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Eight cheetahs to be brought to MP from Botswana by Feb 28: Mohan Yadav
KNP field director Uttam Kumar Sharma said five of the eight cheetahs that will be translocated from Botswana were female
Eight cheetahs gifted by Botswana during President Droupadi Murmu’s three-day state visit to the African country in November last year will be translocated to the Kuno National Park (KNP) on February 28, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav has said.
Yadav said he discussed, among other issues, the “necessary cooperation and arrangements” needed to bring the cheetahs during his meeting with Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday.
KNP field director Uttam Kumar Sharma said five of the eight cheetahs were female. “Six cheetahs are adults, while two cheetahs are less than two years old. They are in quarantine in Botswana,” he said.
The eight cheetahs, which were captured from Botswana’s Ghanzi region, were symbolically released into a quarantine facility at Mokolodi Nature Reserve at an event witnessed by President Murmu and President of Botswana Duma Gideon Boko on November 13, 2025.
“The translocation of cheetahs from South Africa is going to be resumed 36 months after the translocation of 12 cheetahs from South Africa in February 2023,” said Sharma.
“The cheetahs from Botswana are the same southeast African cheetah subspecies- Acinonyx jubatus jubatus- that were translocated from South Africa. Now that we have expert veterinarians and forest officials to care for cheetahs, we don’t need extra preparation for the facilities, he added.
Madhya Pradesh has 27 cheetahs - 24 at Kuno National Park and three at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. Of the total, 11 are adults who were translocated from Namibia in September 2022 and from South Africa in February 2023.
