8 Cheetahs from Namibia set to arrive in Gwalior after 10-hour flight

The animals will be transported in wooden crates aboard a Boeing 747 aircraft, which sports the 'Siberian Tiger' theme livery

Eight African cheetahs – five females and three males – will arrive at their new home in India early Saturday after a 10-hour flight. The animals will be transported in wooden crates in a Boeing 747 freighter aircraft from the Namibian capital of Windhoek to Gwalior, in Madhya Pradesh.

A veterinarian, a wildlife scientist, Indian High Commissioner to Namibia Prashant Agrawal, and Laurie Marker, executive director of Cheetah Conservation Fund, and her team members will travel along with the animals.

“All international protocols will be followed. Crates have been prepared as per cheetah requirements,” said S P Yadav, additional director general and project in-charge at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The animals will not be tranquilised for this trip.

The cheetahs will be carried in an Indian Air Force chopper from Gwalior to the Kuno National Park and will be released in the wild by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. To support the project, Indian Oil has provided Rs 50 crore.

“Our team has done a great job in order to be fully prepared for the flight. Our main job was to get the aircraft fully ready in order to perform a comfortable flight for the kitties,” said Vladimir Ghilan, accountable manager of Terra Avia, a charter airline based in Moldova.

This includes setting comfortable temperature for the animals inside the aircraft, he said.

The Terra Avia Boeing 747 aircraft, which sports the “Siberian Tiger” theme livery, can carry 80 tonnes of cargo. For the Friday evening flight its only payload will be the cheetahs and the accompanying passengers.

But animals are also carried in the cargo hold of passenger aircraft and freighters alongside other cargo. In such cases there are certain do’s and don’ts that airline staff follow. For instance, a consignment of meat or seafood is not loaded in close proximity to an animal cage as the smell can trigger reactions.

International standards

Airlines such as Air France-KLM adopt a last-to-board and first-to-disembark procedure for animals — that is, the animals are boarded last after all other cargo is loaded, but are first to disembark. At the airport, the animals are ferried in covered vehicles to limit the impact of external weather conditions.

Air France-KLM staff handling animal cargo at Paris and Amsterdam airports undergo yearly training from a veterinarian. The staff also needs to have background and education in the subject.

To ensure safe transport of live animals, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) introduced a global certification programme in 2018.

“Prior to accepting a livestock shipment, our teams have a checklist for shippers to get as much information about the animals before the booking and also ensure that the aircraft is capable of carrying the planned number of animals. Some of the steps that we undertake to ensure the safety and comfort of the animal is regulating the aircraft’s air-conditioning system that can keep the livestock at the requested temperature and ensuring they have a stress-free boarding and disembarkation process,” said Rajesh Menon, regional head of cargo, Cathay Pacific.

“In the last three years, we have carried 12,000 goats, 47 thoroughbred horses, four alpacas, among other animals,” Menon added.

“Live animals are among the most difficult cargo to transport, presenting a number of unique challenges as each type of animal has its own specific requirements,” said Arun Nair, product manager (LiveAnimals and SkyStables), Etihad Cargo. The airline has robust contingency plans for transport of live animals and also trains its ground staff to identify suspicious bookings. This is done to combat illegal wildlife trade, he said.

“We carefully select animals that can be transported together. While we may place dogs and horses in the hold together, in their dedicated containers within our temperature-controlled cargo hold, we do not mix many other animals to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and the spread of disease. We also have strict guidelines regarding the loading of dangerous goods, which we do not permit when live animals are being transported to ensure their safety,” he said.

Etihad Cargo transported over 5,000 animals from 2021 till now with dogs and cats being the most commonly transported species. Other commonly transported live animals for Etihad Cargo include horses, goats, bees and fish.