BHOPAL: Already home to eight Namibian cheetahs, the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday welcomed 12 of these big cats from South Africa.
The 12 cheetahs were flown from South Africa to Gwalior in the Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster cargo plane early on Saturday. They were later flown to KNP in IAF helicopters. Subsequently, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan released the animals from the cages into the 10 bomas (enclosures) where the seven males and five females, among them two coalition pairs, will be quarantined for at least a month, before being shifted to bigger enclosures at KNP.
The cheetahs were released in the presence of Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climatic Change Bhupender Yadav, local MP and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and MP’s Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah.
“This is a grand gift to Madhya Pradesh on Mahashivratri, which takes the total cheetah count at KNP to 20. The eight Namibian cheetahs which were flown here five months back have well adapted to conditions here. The female cheetah Sasha, which was ailing earlier, is now healthy. We’re running Cheetah Mitra and Kulhadi Chhodo campaigns in villages here for conserving cheetahs and the overall environment with public participation,” CM Chouhan said.
“The cheetah tourism, once started in pursuance of rules, will not only boost tourism potential of KNP, but also provide livelihood to locals. We’re also exploring possibilities of homestay of tourists with Saharia families (one of three especially vulnerable tribal groups),” he added.
The South African cheetahs will be fed buffalo meat before being released into the bigger enclosures for hunting the available prey on their own. Meanwhile, the central government’s national task force for monitoring Project Cheetah is soon likely to decide when to release the Namibian cheetahs into the wild. Sources say 3-5 cheetahs, which were released by PM Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday on September 17, 2022, may be released into the wild, which also houses co-predator leopards.