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

Published on: Feb 5, 2026, 21:59:45 IST

By Shruti Tomar, BHOPAL

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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.

A cheetah being released for quarantine at a nature reserve in Gaborone, Botswana. The event marked the symbolic handing over of 8 Cheetahs to India by Botswana during the three-day state visit of President Murmu. ( (Rashtrapati Bhavan via PTI)

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shruti Tomar
I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.Read More

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