MP: Aasha gives birth to 3 cubs in Kuno, 2nd cheetah in park to mother kids

Bhopal: Namibian cheetah, Aasha, has given birth to three cubs in the Kuno National Park (KNP) under Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh.

The female cheetah along with her three newborns was on Wednesday spotted in the larger boma (predator-free enclosure) in the park, a senior forest officer said.

“Aasha gave birth to three cubs seven days ago. The mother and her three cubs are in good health”, KNP field director Uttam Kumar Sharma told this newspaper.

Aasha was among eight cheetahs which were brought from Namibia to KNP in the world’s first ever intercontinental carnivore translocation under the cheetah reintroduction project in India on September 17, 2022.

Union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav first broke the news in a post in his X account that read, “Purrs in the wild! Thrilled to share that Kuno National Park has welcomed three new members. The cubs have been born to Namibian cheetah Aasha. This is a roaring success for Project Cheetah, envisioned by PM Shri @narendramodi ji to restore ecological balance.

My big congrats to all experts involved in the project, the Kuno wildlife officials, and wildlife enthusiasts across India”.

The Union minister also posted a 20-second video in his X account showing the three cubs crawling in their nest.

Six-year-old Aasha, as named by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he released her in KNP on September 17, 2022, is the second Namibian cheetah to mother cubs in KNP.

On March 27 last year, Siyaya, which acquired an Indian name ‘Jwala’ later, gave birth to four cubs in KNP.

However, three cubs died due to acute dehydration three months later in June.

In February, 2023, 12 cheetahs from South Africa were translocated to KNP under the same project.

Of the 20 cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa to KNP, six have died of septicaemia caused by collar-induced abrasions in their necks.

Later, all the surviving 14 adult cheetahs were shifted to enclosures in the park for regular health checkups.

Three of them have recently been released into the wild in the park.