Cheetahs in Kuno National Park adapting well

8 cheetahs were translocated from Namibia to the park on September 17 as part of a cheetah reintroduction plan and they were released into their enclosures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same day

New Delhi, Dec 12: All eight cheetahs-five females and three males-in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh are fine and adapting well to their new home, Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has said.

Yadav, who held a review meeting with researchers, scientists and forest officials in KNP on Sunday, tweeted: ''Happy to note that all eight cheetahs are adapting well and the vision of PM Narendra Modi of turning an ecological wrong into ecological harmony is taking shape.''

The eight cheetahs were translocated from Namibia in southern Africa to the park as part of a cheetah reintroduction plan on September 17 and they were released into their enclosures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi the same day. The last cheetah in India died in Koriya district in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.

India may add more big cats

After Namibian wild cheetahs, the Indian government is likely to bring in more cheetahs for Kuno National Park. Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) has said that India is now working with South Africa to bring more such big cats in batches from there.

"After the eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived on Sunday, India is working with South Africa for more. Also, Namibia is going to send more cheetahs over the coming years," Dr Laurie Marker, Founder and Executive Director, Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), who coordinated the translocation of cheetahs from Namibia, was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. "This is the only population of cheetahs actually large enough to use for reintroduction and to establish a population, we must bring in more," she added.

However, wildlife experts said that a delay in signing a formal agreement has worsened the health of cheetahs. ''A dozen cheetahs quarantined in South Africa for more than four months have lost fitness in their wait to be flown to Kuno as a formal signing of an agreement is holding up their inter-continental translocation,'' according to the experts as reported by PTI.

They said prolonged quarantine is taking a toll on the health of these big cats, who are slated to join the eight cheetahs imported from Namibia and released in KNP in Sheopur district in mid-September. In fact, the 12 South African cheetahs - seven males and five females - have not hunted for themselves even once after being kept in 'bomas' (small enclosures), said wildlife experts in the know of India's cheetah reintroduction plan.

Though there has been some forward movement in implementation of Project Cheetah with South Africa in recent days, Pretoria is yet to ink a memorandum of understanding with the Indian government for transfer of the spotted cats to Kuno Park.