The total count of cheetahs has reached seven after another big cat was released into the wild at Kuno National Park (KNP) in the Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh, an official said on Monday.
The national park’s Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Prakash Kumar Verma told media persons that the female cheetah released into the wild is called Neerva and is around three to four years old.
He further stated that so far, seven cheetahs have been released into free-range, while 10 are still housed in larger enclosures.
When asked about releasing the remaining cheetahs, Verma said: “The decision about the release of remaining cheetahs into the wild will be taken by the steering committee constituted by the Centre. The committee members are scheduled to visit the KNP on Tuesday.”
Notably, eight Namibian cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, were brought to the KNP and released into special enclosures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 last year as part of an ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme of the species.
Later, 12 cheetahs - seven males and five females - were brought to the national park from South Africa on 18 February this year.
In March, the cheetah Jwala, earlier known as Siyaya, who was translocated from Namibia, gave birth to four cubs at the national park.
However, three of them died earlier this month.
Apart from these cubs, three of the 20 adult cheetahs translocated from South Africa and Namibia have died at the KNP.
Namibian cheetah Sasha died due to a kidney-related ailment on 27 March, Uday brought in from South Africa died on 13 April, while South African cheetah Daksha succumbed to injuries following a violent interaction with a male during a mating attempt on 9 May.