BHOPAL: Kuno National Park in MP welcomed the first baby cheetahs on Wednesday. Siyaya- the translocated Cheetah gave birth to 4 cubs, said Union Environment Minister, Bhupender Yadav. Yadav took to his Twitter handle to share the photo of the cubs on Wednesday calling it a momentous event in Indian wildlife conservation history. The post read –
”I am delighted to share that four cubs have been born to one of the cheetahs translocated to India on 17th September 2022, under the visionary leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi ji (sic),” he tweeted.
He congratulated the entire team of Project Cheetah for their relentless efforts in bringing back extinct animals to the Indian wildlife.
Officials involved in the conservation project expressed their delight and said that the birth of the cubs is a positive sign that the cheetahs are adjusting well to their new environment in Kuno National Park. The park is being prepared as a suitable habitat for the reintroduction of cheetahs into India’s wildlife population.
Three-year-old-old Siyaya, a captive-bred cheetah, as per officials was pregnant after mating in late December. The gestation period for cheetahs is 90 to 93 days.
Meanwhhile, another Cheetah Asha is expected to deliver between April 15th-30th.
Under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released the first batch of eight spotted felines — five females and three males — from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at Kuno in Madhya Pradesh on his 72nd birthday on September 17 last year. Earlier on Monday this week, one cheetah named Sasha died due to kidney ailment.
In a second such translocation, 12 cheetahs were flown in from South Africa and released into Kuno on February 18.
The last feline was seen in Koriya in present day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and species was declared extinct in 1952.