MP: Third cheetah released into acclimatisation enclosure in KNP; remaining five to join them this month

Sheopur (Madhya Pradesh): The number of cheetahs that have been moved from their quarantine area into the acclimatisation enclosure in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park reached three on Friday after big cat Obaan joined male siblings Alton and Freddie, a senior forest official said.

Eight cheetahs were flown into the state from Namibia in southern Africa on September 17 as part of an ambitious initiative to reintroduce the big cat into the country and they were released into the quarantine zone in KNP by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Obaan was released into the larger enclosure, spread over an area of five square kilometres, from the quarantine zone today. Elton and Freddie were moved to the acclimatization enclosure on November 5," KNP Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Prakash Kumar Verma told.

The other five cheetahs would also be shifted to the large enclosure this month, officials said.

Since September 17, the eight cheetahs, comprising five females and three males in the 30-66 month age group and named Freddy, Alton, Savannah, Sasha, Obaan, Asha, Cibili and Saisa, were housed in six 'bomas' (enclosures).

The last cheetah died in India in Koriya district in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.