MP: Five more cheetahs to be released in Kuno National Park: Environment Ministry

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has said that five more cheetahs including three females and two males will be released from the acclimatization camps into free-roaming conditions in Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh before the onset of the monsoon rains in June this year.

The Ministry said that the decision was taken after a team of experts reviewed the current status of the “Project Cheetah” on the directions of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). 

Cheetahs will be allowed to move out of KNP and will not necessarily be recaptured unless they venture into areas where they are in significant danger. It said, their degree of isolation will be assessed once they settle down and appropriate action will be taken to enhance their connectivity to the group.

The Ministry added that a team of experts recently visited the Kuno National Park and reviewed the current status of Project Cheetah. The team examined all aspects of the project and submitted a comprehensive report on the way forward.

So far, four of the eight cheetahs that were brought from Namibia have been released from the fenced acclimatization camps into free-ranging conditions in KNP.  Earlier, four of the cheetahs from Namibia were released from the fenced acclimatization camps into free-ranging conditions in KNP.