Days After Losing Namibian Cheetah, Kuno National Park Welcomes Four Cubs - Watch

New Delhi: Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav announced on Wednesday that one of the cheetahs relocated to India from Namibia had four cubs. He termed it a momentous event in India's wildlife conservation history during 'Amrit Kaal'.
He termed it a momentous event in India's wildlife conservation history during 'Amrit Kaal'. "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. The minister congratulated the entire team of Project Cheetah for their relentless efforts in bringing back the large carnivore to India and for their efforts in correcting an ecological wrong done in the past.

A #milestone event in history of #wildlife #conservation of #India. We are delighted to share that four cubs have been born to one of the cheetahs translocated to India on 17th Sep. 22.@narendramodi@byadavbjp@CMMadhyaPradesh@KrVijayShah #Cheetah #cubs #MadhyaPradeshNews pic.twitter.com/FkqNCMdC9R

— Kuno National Park (@KunoNationalPrk) March 29, 2023

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.

Namibian Cheetah Sasha Dies At MP's Kuno National Park

Five-year-old female Namibian cheetah `Sasha`, who reportedly died due to serious renal (kidney related) on Monday, her ailment was first detected in the last week of January, three month after she along with seven other big cats were released at Madhya Pradesh`s Kuno National Park (KNP).

According to sources in the state Forest Department, Sasha was spotted lying lazily in her big enclosure on January 23, after which the three doctors team had shifted her for treatment at a quarantine `Boma` (small enclosure).

Later, Sasha`s blood sample was sent to Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal and a team of veterinary doctors established that she was suffering with kidney infection. Subsequent ultrasound examination of Sasha at KNP confirmed the blood test report findings.

Since then, veterinary doctors in coordination with their counterparts in Namibia and South Africa, were administering treatment to the female Cheetah and were monitoring her daily activities closely.

Cheetah is the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from India due to over-hunting and habitat loss. The last cheetah died in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952.