Prior To The Monsoon, Five More Cheetahs To Be Released Into The Wild In MP's Kuno

NEW DELHI: The Union Environment Ministry announced on Monday that before the start of the monsoon in June, five cheetahs—three females and two males—will be released from the acclimatization camps into the free-ranging environs in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.

According to the ministry, the choice was made following an evaluation of ‘Project Cheetah's current state under the guidance of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

"Five more cheetahs (three females and two males) will be released from the acclimatization camps into free-roaming conditions in KNP before the onset of the monsoon rains in June," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the cheetahs will be allowed to move out of KNP and will not necessarily be "recaptured unless they venture into areas where they are in significant danger".

Once the monsoon rains are over in September, the situation will be reassessed. Further releases into KNP or surrounding areas will be done in a planned manner to Gandhisagar and other areas as per the Cheetah Conservation Action Plan to establish metapopulation, it added.

The monitoring teams decided which cheetahs to release based on their behaviors and approachability.

In the fenced acclimatization camps in KNP, four of the eight cheetahs that were transported from Namibia have already been let loose.

According to the statement, two males (Gaurav and Shaurya) have remained inside the park and haven't demonstrated any desire to explore the surroundings outside its boundaries.

On September 17, 2022, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi released wild cheetahs, which had gone extinct in India. As part of Project Cheetah, the first intercontinental large wild carnivore translocation project ever, cheetahs were imported from Namibia and introduced in India.

According to the action plan for the introduction of cheetahs in India, 10 to 12 cheetahs must be imported annually for the next five years, at the very least. In this context, the Government of India started bilateral talks with the Republic of South Africa in 2021 for collaboration on cheetah conservation. The signing of the MoU with the Republic of South Africa in January 2023 marked the successful conclusion of the discussions.

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