Five more of the cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa under Project Cheetah will soon be released into the open forest of Kuno National Park. Four cheetahs brought from Namibia have already been released into the wild. In this, male cheetah named Pawan and female cheetah named Asha have crossed the border of Kuno more than once. Two other cheetahs have confined themselves to the enclosure.
On the instructions of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), South African wildlife experts Adrian Tordiff, Vincent Van Dan Merwe, Wildlife Institute of India Chief Scientist Qamar Qureshi, NTCA’s Amit Malik visited Kuno National Park on 30 April. Took stock of the situation and submitted its detailed report to the government while reviewing Project Cheetah. The team found that in September 2022 and February 2023, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were brought to Kuno National Park. So far two cheetahs- Sasha and Uday have died. Sasha Cheetah, brought from Namibia, had kidney disease. At the same time, Uday Cheetah brought from South Africa died on 23 April. The blood report says that he did not die due to any infectious disease. Because of this, there is no possibility of spreading the disease to other cheetahs.
Five more cheetahs to be released
After discussions with Kuno officials, it has been decided that five more cheetahs (three females and two males) will be released into the open soon. This will be done before the onset of monsoon rains in June. The cheetahs to be released will be selected after individual tests to see how they are adjusting to their new environment. The monitoring of these cheetahs will also be the same as that of the previously released cheetahs. The other eight cheetahs will remain in larger enclosures during the monsoon. Their enclosures will be opened so that they can get enough space. Siaya Cheetah, who gave birth to four cubs in March, will be kept in her camp. There will be a review in September after the monsoon is over and after that a decision will be taken to release the other cheetahs into the open forest. Under the Cheetah Conservation Action Plan, a decision will be taken to send them to Gandisagar and other areas.
The wind of hope crossed the border
So far four cheetahs have been released into the open forest of Kuno National Park. Two male cheetahs Gaurav and Shaurya remained in the park. They showed no interest in moving to new areas. Whereas, male cheetah Pawan and female cheetah Asha have been out of the kuno twice. Pawan had to be tranquilised twice and brought back to the park. All the cheetahs are fitted with satellite collars and their location is traced twice a day. Location is taken more often than this if needed. On a rotating shift basis, 24-hour surveillance teams stay at a fixed distance from the cheetahs. These teams have been entrusted with the responsibility of keeping other information related to behavior including hunting. The report says that all the cheetahs are in good physical condition. Hunting regularly and behaving normally.
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