Preparing cheetahs to travel across continents to India

Preparing a bunch of large carnivores to move from one continent to another is no easy task.

At least 16 cheetahs in South Africa and Namibia are being readied for a long, challenging journey to India, where they will be reintroduced in the wild. The world's fastest land animal had been declared extinct in India in 1952.

The India-bound cheetahs were mostly picked up from protected reserves in the African countries. Veterinarians fired tranquiliser darts from moving helicopters to capture some of them.

After being captured, the tranquilised cats were microchipped, injected with antibiotics to prevent infection, rehydrated with drips, had their blood taken for DNA sampling, were put in crates and flown to quarantine facilities.

Read the full story by Soutik Biswas here