Project Cheetah: India welcomes 12 cheetahs from South Africa in MP

 

12 more cheetahs have been brought from South Africa to India which will abode in the Kuno National Park located in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. Out of these 12 Cheetahs, there are 7 male cheetahs and 5 female cheetahs. 

CM Shivraj Singh to release cheetahs

The cheetahs will be released into their quarantine enclosures at the Kuno National Park by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav. These 12 cheetahs will join eight other cheetahs in neighboring Namibia, who were released last year in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. 

 

Arrangements done

India and South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in January 2022, as an initiative to expand the cheetah meta-population and to bring back the big cats in the country. According to the officials, 10 quarantine enclosures have been created at the reserve for the cheetahs. The animals are mandated to be kept in 30 days isolation after arrival.

 

A big resurrection

In September 2022, eight cheetahs from Namibia were brought into India. On his birthday (17th September), Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the big cats to the Kuno National Park. The eight Namibian cheetahs are now in a hunting enclosure and will soon be released into the wild. The last cheetah died in India in 1947, since then, the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.