MP: Cheetah who strayed from Kuno National Park released into wild again

Sheopur (Madhya Pradesh) [India], July 3 (ANI): A male cheetah from Namibia, who was kept in an acclimatisation enclosure after he strayed out twice, has once again been released into the wild at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

The cheetah which went by the name Oban and was renamed Pawan has been released into the free-ranging area in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in the state’s Sheopur district on Sunday, a forest official said.

“The male cheetah Pawan who was previously released into the wild but a month ago he was on the verge of crossing the border into Uttar Pradesh, so he was tranquilised and brought back to the Kuno National Park and kept in an enclosure. Pawan was again released into the wild in Kuno from the enclosure on Sunday,” Sheopur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Prakash Kumar Verma said.

“Till now a total of ten cheetahs have been released into the wild in the KNP. Currently all cheetahs are healthy and are wandering freely inside the boundary of Kuno National Park,” Verma said.

The forest official said that the tracking team was continuously monitoring movements of all the cheetahs.

PM Modi released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into the Kuno National Park on the occasion of his birthday on September 17, last year.

Cheetahs were declared extinct from India in 1952 but 8 cheetahs (5 females and 3 males) were brought from Africa’s Namibia as part of ‘Project Cheetah’ and the government’s efforts to revitalise and diversify the country’s wildlife and habitat.

Later on, 12 more cheetahs were brought from South Africa and rehabilitated into Kuno National Park on February 18.

The translocation of 12 cheetahs from South Africa to Gwalior and onwards to Kuno National Park through helicopters was executed by the Indian Air Force.

Under the ambitious Project Cheetah of the Indian government, the reintroduction of wild species particularly cheetahs was undertaken according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines.

India has a long history of wildlife conservation. One of the most successful wildlife conservation ventures ‘Project Tiger’, which was initiated way back in 1972, has not only contributed to the conservation of tigers but also to the entire ecosystem.

Besides, six cheetahs, including three of the four cubs born in the park, have died since March.

The cubs died due to “extreme weather conditions and dehydration”. The cubs were among the four born on March 24 this year, inside the National Park to Cheetah Jwala, who was among the set of eight cheetahs relocated to India from Namibia last year.

Earlier, talking about the death of Cheetahs, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) J S Chouhan said, “The first female cheetah ‘Sasha’ that died was the one who had kidney problems even before she was brought here. The second cheetah ‘Uday’ had a cardiopulmonary failure. The third casualty, in which one female cheetah ‘Daksha’ died was due to a violent interaction with a male cheetah.”