IAF’s Chinook helicopters to ferry cheetahs from Jaipur to MP’s Kuno National Park

Chinook helicopters will be deployed to ferry the cheetahs to the Kuno National Park after they land in Jaipur.

While a modified passenger B747 Jumbo Jet will take off from Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia, to India, the Chinook helicopters will ferry them from Jaipur to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, government officials told India Today.

Eight Namibian wild cheetahs, five females and three males, the founders of a new population, will be released in Indian forests by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17.

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The aircraft carrying the cheetahs on their historic transcontinental mission is flying overnight so the animals will travel during the coolest hours of the day, arriving in Jaipur on Saturday morning. Chinook helicopters are deployed in the northern areas along with the northeastern parts of the country and are used for carrying heavy loads for civilian works too in case of requirement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release cheetahs brought from Namibia in the national park located in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday as part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify the country's wildlife and habitat.

The wild cats are being brought from Namibia under a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed earlier this year.

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