SHEOPUR/BHOPAL: A cheetah translocated from Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh has given birth to four healthy cubs, officials said on Wednesday.
The happy news came in the wake of the death of another relocated female cheetah at the Park two days ago.
Sharing the pictures and video of the newborn cheetah cubs, the union environment, forest and climate change minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted about the birth of the cubs over seven decades after cheetahs were declared extinct in the country.
Tagging PM Modi in the tweets, Yadav wrote, “Congratulations India. A momentous event in our wildlife conservation history during Amrit Kaal! I am delighted to share that four cubs have been born to one of the cheetahs trans-located to India on September 17, 2022, under the PM’s visionary leadership. I congratulate the entire team of Project Cheetah for their relentless efforts in bringing back cheetahs to India and for their efforts in correcting an ecological wrong done in the past.”
PM Narendra Modi retweeted Yadav’s tweet with the quote, “Wonderful news.”
A total of 20 felines -- eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa -- were brought to Kuno National Park in Sheopur district since last September.
The cubs were believed to have been born five days ago but they were spotted by officials on Wednesday, a senior forest official said.
`Siyaya', their mother, was among the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia.
"It is a matter of happiness that Siyaya gave birth to four cubs," Sheopur divisional forest officer P K Varma told reporters.
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The mother and the cubs were fine and healthy, he added.
In fact, Siyaya has killed two animals since she became a mother, officials said.
She has been kept in a big enclosure at the park as of now.
Sasha, another female cheetah brought from Namibia, died of a kidney-related illness on March 27.
A female cheetah generally gives birth 90 to 93 days after mating.
As Namibian cheetahs were brought here on September 17, 2022, Siyaya would have mated after her arrival in India.
The four new-born cubs can be said to be `Indian cheetahs', born in the wild on Indian soil after the last cheetah was hunted in the Korean district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947.
This fastest land animal species was declared extinct in the country in 1952.
The relocation of cheetahs from Africa is part of an ambitious plan to revive their population in India.
Twelve cheetahs brought from South Africa in February 2023 are housed in a quarantine enclosure and are healthy and active, a forest official said.
The Namibian cheetahs -- five female and three male -- were released into enclosures at the KNP on September 17 at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(With inputs from PTI.)