WATCH: 2 Cheetahs released into wild at Madhya Pradesh' Kuno park

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia, five females and three males, on September 17, 2022.

Almost six months after being brought from Namibia, two cheetahs - Oban and Asha - were released into the wild at the Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) on Saturday.

The first batch of eight Cheetahs from Namibia had been kept in 'hunting enclosures' at KNP until now.

"Oban and Asha were among the eight cheetahs brought to KNP in September last year. They were released into the wild on Saturday," principal chief conservator of forests J S Chauhan told PTI.

Oban was released first and Asha a few hours later in the afternoon. The Oban and Asha are well adapted to the new environment and will be able to fend for themselves in the wild, he said.

"Remaining cheetahs from this batch of eight will be released in the wild in a staggered manner," he said, without disclosing any timeline.

How Cheetahs will be monitored

The cheetahs that were released into the wild have satellite collars and the park authorities will monitor them vigilantly in the initial days.

"We still need to keep an eye on them to prevent them from wandering into the villages outside Kuno. Today, they only went up to half a kilometre from the enclosure. We also need to see how they will adapt to living with leopards as so far, they have not encountered any since the enclosure was leopard-free," Divisional Forest Officer of KNP, Prakash Verma told DownToEarth.

Earlier, the park authorities were planning to release the male coalition of Elton and Freddie, twin cheetahs that were brought to India but they could not be trapped. So, they went ahead with Oban and Asha.

The ambitious Cheetah re-introduction plan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia, five females and three males, on September 17, 2022. This was part of Indian's ambitious conservation plan to re-introduce the wild cat into the country after it became extinct some 70 years ago, primarily due to hunting.

The Cheetah re-introduction plan aimed at building a self-sustaining population, centred at Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.

The cheetahs brought in September were first moved to acclimatization enclosures from quarantine bomas' in November. They were later released into hunting enclosures, officials said.

Two of them are now roaming in the wild. Another 12 cheetahs - seven males and five females - were brought to KNP from South Africa on February 18 this year. Thus, a total of 20 cheetahs have reached KNP.