Gwalior: Seven more cheetahs, including two females are to be released into the wild in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park by the third week of June, chairman of the high level committee that was set up to monitor the progress of the 'Project Cheetah' said. The state forest department has initiated necessary preparations for this move.
Under the ambitious project, a total of 20 cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno since September 2022. In the first phase, eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia on September 17 and then on February 18, the second batch of 12 cheetahs were brought from South Africa to Kuno. However, three adult cheetahs along with three of the four cubs of Namibian female cheetah Jwala died in the last two and a half months.
Out of the 17 remaining adult cheetahs, seven cheetahs are already in the wild in Kuno. According to the high level committee on cheetahs, it has now been decided to release two female and five male cheetahs in the wild in Kuno by the third week of June.
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Rajesh Gopal, chairman of the panel and general secretary of the Global Tiger Forum, said that the project is on the track and there is no reason to worry. "We have decided to release seven more cheetahs, including two female cheetahs by the third week of June. The remaining three cheetahs will continue to be kept in Kuno's acclimatised enclosures and will not be released into the wild immediately," he said.
