E-Paper
First two cheetahs released in wild in MP’s Kuno Park
The five-year-old Oban was captured in the morning while 3.5 years old Asha in the afternoon on Saturday
Two Namibian cheetahs, Oban and Aasha, were on Saturday successfully released into the wild at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, nearly six months after they were brought to India, an official said. They were kept in “hunting enclosures” at the park.
On September 17 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first batch of eight cheetahs from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at Kuno National Park, as part of an effort to revive the species’ population in India. The last recorded cheetah was hunted down in Chhattisgarh in 1952.
Announcing the development on Saturday, Union environment and forest minister Bhupendra Yadav tweeted: “Big day for the cheetah reintroduction programme undertaken because of the decisive leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi ji!. Two cheetahs (one male and one female) have been released into the wild in Kuno National Park from their enclosures. Both cheetahs are doing good.”
Asha is the first cheetah from Namibia who was released into a Boma enclosure by PM Modi last year. “They were released into the wild by forest officials on Saturday, and now their location will be tracked with the help of satellite collars. Forest guards will take care of them initially without interfering in their routine. They will not be allowed to go outside the forest,” said Uttam Sharma, field director at the KNP.
Five-year-old Oban was released first on Saturday morning, and 3.5 years old Asha in the afternoon. Both are healthy and doing well in the enclosures. They hardly moved in the forest after the release. They are roaming near their 6 sq km enclosures, which were predator free, where they spent about five months, said a forest official.
Earlier, it was decided to release brothers Elton and Freddie, but they were not captured in the cage so forest officials released Oban and Asha. “We don’t want to create trouble for two cheetahs because they are not coming in the trap so we changed the plan,” said Sharma.
Three more cheetahs will be released in the wild while the cheetah task force will take a gap of a few months to release three other females.
The 12 cheetahs who were translocated from South Africa on February 18 will be shifted from quarantine BOMA to predator free enclosure after March 18, said the MP forest official.
