BHOPAL: A week after the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in western Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district became the African cheetahs second home in India, the first home of the African cheetahs in the country – Kuno National Park (KNP) in MP’s Sheopur district was blessed with the birth of five cheetah cubs on Sunday.
The KNP reported on Sunday about a five-year-old South African cheetah, Nirva, giving birth to five cubs at her enclosure at the KNP.
Sharing the videos of the five newborns on social media platform X, the union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav wrote on Sunday evening, “In the lap of their mother Nirva -- the five-year-old brought from Mapesu Reserve in South African -- these cubs remind us of the beauty and resilience of nature. May they grow strong, swift and free, carrying on the legacy of their kind in India. Let us celebrate the hope and future they bring.”
Posting the same videos on the same social media platform, the MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav wrote, “Welcome new guests to Kuno… It’s a matter of great pleasure that the population of cheetahs is continuously increasing in the KNP. The arrival of these little cubs is a symbol of the success of the cheetah project and the rich biodiversity of India. The favourable environment created for wildlife conservation under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi is prospering today.”
With the birth of five more cubs, the KNP now houses a population of 29 cheetahs, including 19 cubs and ten adults.
The novel development at KNP was reported a week after a South African male coalition Prabhas and Pavak were shifted from the KNP to the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in the central Indian state’s Mandsaur district -- consequently making the sanctuary the second home of African cheetahs in India.