Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh: In a significant development for India’s cheetah reintroduction program, a female cheetah named Jwala and her four cubs were released into the wild in Kuno National Park (KNP) on Friday, an official statement confirmed.
With this, the total number of cheetahs roaming freely in the park has risen to 12, while 14 others remain in enclosures. Earlier, seven cheetahs—including two males, two females, and four cubs—had been released into the wild. Five were released on February 5, while two others were set free in December.
Kuno National Park has been at the center of India’s ambitious cheetah reintroduction project, which began on September 17, 2022, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight Namibian cheetahs—five females and three males—into enclosures at KNP. This marked the world’s first intercontinental translocation of the big cats.
In February 2023, an additional 12 cheetahs were flown in from South Africa. With the latest release, Kuno National Park now houses 26 cheetahs—eight from South Africa, four from Namibia, and 14 cubs born in India.
The cheetah reintroduction project aims to establish a self-sustaining population of the species in India, where cheetahs were declared extinct in 1952. The initiative has been closely monitored by wildlife experts, with periodic releases into the wild to assess their adaptation to the habitat.
Sources By Agencies
