Eight cheetahs will arrive in India this week from Namibia on a special tiger-faced plane and will be released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a National Park in a grand ceremony on September 17.
The aircraft will take off from Namibia's capital Windhoek and reach Jaipur on Saturday morning, September 17.
The big cats will then be flown to their new home -- Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh -- in air force helicopters.
The special aircraft carrying the big cats, five female and three male cheetahs, has undergone modifications to allow cages to be secured in the main cabin. This feature will allow vets to have full access to the cats during the flight.
"The stress level is the biggest thing. So, after the cheetahs have been woken up we usually use a long-lasting anaesthetic which comes out of the system quite slowly," Robyn Keyes, a Veterinary Assistant, said.
PM Narendra Modi will release the spotted felines into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on his birthday on September 17.
A malnourished female cheetah nursed back to health and two brothers who hunt together as a team are among the eight big cats being brought from Namibia to reintroduce the species in India.
The customized Boeing 747-400 jumbo aircraft is an ultra-long range jet capable of flying for up to 16 hours and so, can fly directly from Namibia to India without needing a stop to refuel.
The large carnivore got completely wiped out from India due to their use for coursing, sport hunting, over-hunting and habitat loss. The government declared the cheetah extinct in the country in 1952.
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