HISTORIC moment when PM Narendra Modi released cheetahs in MP's national park - in PICS

On his 72nd birthday, PM Modi released 8 cheetahs that were flown down from Namibia in Africa and released them in MP's Kuno National Pak. Cheetahs had gone extinct in India in 1952. 

Releasing the Namibian cheetahs in MP's national Park - It was a unique way in which PM Modi ushered in his 72nd birthday.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was also present with Modi on the dais, along with Minister for Environment and Forest Bhupendra Yadav.

Wearing a pale blue kurta, light brown jacket, a pair of sunglasses and donning a dark brown hat, the prime minister also clicked photographs of the cheetahs on a DSLR camera following their release. These animals are radio-collared. (Pic: IANS)

At the national park, a dais was set up, under which special cages carrying cheetahs were kept. PM Modi released three of these felines around 11.30 am by operating a lever of the cages. (Pic: ANI)

A  total of eight cheetahs - five females and three males - were brought to Gwalior from Namibia in a modified Boeing aircraft on Saturday morning as part of 'Project Cheetah', the world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. 

(Pic: ANI)

The 'African Cheetah Introduction Project in India' was conceived in 2009. A plan to introduce the big cat in the Kuno National Park by November last year had suffered a setback due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

(Pic: ANI)

The prime minister released three cheetahs in an enclosure, while the rest five were released by other dignitaries, KNP Divisional Forest Officer P K Verma told PTI. 

(Pic: ANI)