MP: Another Female Cheetah, Her 4 Cubs Released into Wild in Kuno

Bhopal: Another female cheetah, Jwala, and her four cubs were on Friday released into the wild in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district, taking the number of felines in the free range in the wildlife sanctuary to 12.

Namibian Jwala is the third female cheetah to be released into the wild in the Kuno National Park.

On February 14, Namibian female cheetah Aasha along with her three cubs, each aged 15 months, and South African female cheetah Dheera were allowed to move in the free range in the national park.

Two male cheetahs, Agni and Vayu, were released into the wild in the national park on December four last year.

“All the 12 cheetahs including seven cubs are healthy and doing fine in the wild in the Kuno National Park”, additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF) (wildlife) and director, Lion Project, Uttam Kumar Sharma who is also the field director of the park told this newspaper.

According to him, Jwala and her four cubs were released in the Khajuri forest area which is a part of Ahera tourism zone in the Kuno National Park.

“Now, due to the presence of cheetahs in the tourism zone, tourists may get the opportunity to see cheetahs during safari visit”, Mr Sharma said.

The remaining 14 cheetahs in the Kuno National Park have been kept in large enclosures in semi-wild condition and will be released into the wild in a phased manner.

Under the cheetah reintroduction project, eight cheetahs were brought to the Kuno National Park from Namibia in the first ever intercontinental translocation of carnivores on September 17, 2022.

Six months later, 12 more cheetahs were brought to the Kuno National Park from South Africa under the same project.

After the death of some adult cheetahs and the birth of cubs, the cheetah population in the Kuno National Park now stands at 26.