Kuno National Park has adequate space, prey base to house 20 to 25 cheetahs: MP forest officer
Bhopal, September 18
Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, the new home of African cheetahs in India, has enough space and an adequate prey base to house 20 to 25 such big cats, an official has said, as the little-known wildlife sanctuary basked in its new-found global fame.
On September 17, eight cheetahs airlifted from Namibia — five females and three males — were released in the Kuno National Park (KNP) with much fanfare, putting the sanctuary in Sheopur district firmly on the world map.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released three of these felines into a special enclosure in the park by operating a lever of the cages in which they were transported from the African country.
The cheetahs have been brought to the park as part of an intercontinental translocation project to reintroduce the feline in India seven decades after it was declared extinct in the country.
Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) JS Chauhan expressed confidence that the translocation plan would be a great success.
He said Madhya Pradesh has perfected the art of wildlife conservation and revival of animal species, citing the example of the Panna Tiger Reserve.
He said in 2009, the reserve was completely devoid of the big striped cats, but later it successfully implemented a tiger reintroduction programme and revived their population.
The eight African cheetahs will be in giant quarantine enclosures in KNP for almost a month and later they will be housed in acclimatisation zones for 2 to 4 months before being released in the wild.
After getting the first lot of cheetahs from Namibia, India was looking forward to importing 12 more spotted mammals from South Africa after signing an MoU with that country, officials said.
“KNP is spread over an area of 750 square km and has sufficient space to accommodate 20 to 25 cheetahs,” Chauhan told PTI.
Besides, the thicket around KNP stretches to 6,000 square km of forest area from the adjoining Shivpuri and Sheopur district of MP till Baran district of Rajasthan, he contended.
On being asked about the staple prey of cheetah, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest stated that the spotted animal loves to feed on different species of antelopes.
“We have antelopes (in KNP), but their density is not as much as we would like to have, but their substitute is spotted deer in our conditions. We have a good population of spotted deer, blue bull, chinkara, wild boar,” he said.
Chauhan said chitals were being herded inside the acclimatisation enclosures of cheetahs.
The ‘African Cheetah Introduction Project in India’ was first conceived in 2009.
