Bhopal: Veera Released In Kuno Jungle

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Female South African cheetah Veera was released into the wild of Kuno National Park in Sheopur district on Friday. She was released under the watchful eyes of the experts. Now, the total count of cheetahs in wild has reached nine. Still, eight cheetahs are inside the enclosures.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wild Life) J S Chouhan said that Veera was released in the open jungle in Kuno in the morning. Veera will join other cheetahs in wild including Asha, Freddie. The decision to release female cheetah into the wild was taken after consent given by Cheetah Task Force and Cheetah Steering Committee. One of the members of Cheetah Steering Committee told Free Press that of the eight cheetahs kept in enclosures, not all of them would be released into the wild. Some of them will be kept inside enclosure.

Twenty adult cheetahs including eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were relocated to Kuno National Park in two phases. Of them, three have died due to various reasons.

Mother’s refusal

The efforts of cheetah expert who came from Namibia and other officials of Kuno National Park to reunite the lone surviving cub with female cheetah Jwala is proving fruitless as Jwala is not ready to accept the cub. “We are trying everyday to reunite the cub with Jwala but latter is not accepting the cub,” said a senior officer of forest department. Jwala had given birth to four cubs and three of them died due to extreme heat in May. The fourth cub was rescued by the Kuno officials and treated in the special hospital. After treatment, cub is in good health. It is possible that Jwala remained away from cub for a long time hence she may have developed dislike for the cub.