Twelve cheetahs from South Africa, including five females and seven males, landed in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, yesterday.

An Indian Air Force’s (IAF) C-17 aircraft, carrying the batch of 12 cheetahs, landed at the Air Force Station in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior city, after a 10-hour flight from Johannesburg, the IAF tweeted earlier in the day.

Later, the cheetahs were released in the Kuno National Park, where eight cheetahs were flown in from Namibia five months ago.

With this, the total headcount of the big cats in India has risen to 20.

Cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952. The introduction of cheetahs in India is being done under “Project Cheetah,” an ambitious translocation project of the Indian government.

Source: Nam News Network