5 more cheetahs released into wild, taking the number of free ranging felines in Kuno to 12
Jwala, the female cheetah brought from Namibia, and her four cubs were released into the wild. Earlier this month, CM Yadav had released five cheetahs, Dheera and Asha, along with Asha's three cubs, into the wild.
More than two-and-a-half years after African cheetahs were brought to India for the ambitious species reintroduction programme, the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh now has 12 big cats roaming free. This was after five more cheetahs were released into the wild on Friday.
CREDIT: BCCL
Jwala, cubs released into wild
Jwala, the female cheetah brought from Namibia, and her four cubs were released into the wild, as Project Cheetah, which has suffered numerous setbacks, makes some progress.
"Another significant step towards cheetah breeding in Kuno National Park! Jwala, the female cheetah brought from Namibia, along with her four recently born cubs (two males and two females), will be released in the open forest under the Khajuri tourism area today (Friday)," Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said in a post on X.
Twelve cheetahs roaming free
Earlier this month, CM Yadav had released five cheetahs, Dheera and Asha, along with Asha's three cubs, into the wild.
Kuno national park
¡ª Gaurrav bhrdwj (@gaurravbhrdwj) February 7, 2025
The range of Vindhya and Aravali mountain landscape
Cheetah Asha and 3 cubs come out side from enclosure to free in wild.
VC- Kuno team #Cheetah #wildlife #wildlifephotography #cheetahinafrica #conservation #biodiversity #IndiAves pic.twitter.com/nraF7AJDtp
Previously, on 4 December 2024, two male cheetahs ¨C Vayu and Agni ¨C were released into the wild.
With the release on Friday, 12 cheetahs will now roam free in the wilderness, while 14 remain in enclosures.
With the start of Basant season, unending joy and excitement fill the air of Kuno as we welcome the arrival of two new cheetah cubs in Kuno National Park! ?
¡ª Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) February 4, 2025
Female cheetah Veera, age about 5 years, brought from Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa, has given birth to 2 cubs¡ pic.twitter.com/oeXbI7oJ4z
Project Cheetah
Project Cheetah, which is the first-of-its-kind transcontinental species reintroduction initiative in the world, aims to bring the big cats back to India, seven decades after they went extinct in the subcontinent.
CREDIT: CCF
The first batch of eight cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, was brought from Namibia to Kuno in September 2022, followed by another 12 from South Africa in February 2023.
Setbacks to Project Cheetah
Though it was launched with much celebration, Project Cheetah ran into trouble soon after, with around 12 of them dying so far. This included several of those brought from Africa and their cubs, which were born in India.
CREDIT: MP TOURISM
In August 2024, Pawan, which was the only free-ranging cheetah in Kuno, died of drowning. Though the birth of more cheetah cubs is a positive sign, experts say that India is far from having a self-sustaining population with a diverse gene pool.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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