Two \'imported\' cheetahs released into open at Kuno National Park

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed happiness over all the eight cheetahs, translocated from Namibia to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, being “healthy, active and adjusting well”.

He also termed as “great news” two of the eight cheetahs being released into an acclimatisation enclosure from the quarantine area where they were kept since translocated from Namibia mid-September.

“Great news! Am told that after the mandatory quarantine, 2 cheetahs have been released to a bigger enclosure for further adaptation to the Kuno habitat. Others will be released soon,” Modi said in a tweet and shared a video of the two Cheetahs from Saturday.

“I'm also glad to know that all cheetahs are healthy, active and adjusting well,” he said.

Kuno National Park Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Prakash Kumar Verma had said that two cheetahs were released in the larger enclosure from the quarantine zones on Saturday. “The remaining six cheetahs will also be released in the (acclimatisation enclosure) in a phased manner,” he had said.

The cheetahs, released in a bigger zone on Saturday, were together in the quarantine enclosure, the DFO added. The larger enclosure is an area of more than five square km, officials had earlier said.

Eventually, the eight cheetahs will be released into the wild according to plans.
The eight cheetahs -- five females and three males in the 30-66 month age group -- were released in the dedicated quarantine zones at KNP on September 17 by Modi.

The last cheetah died in India in Koriya district in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct in 1952.