Third Botswana Female Cheetah Released Into Kuno National Park; Free-Range Cheetah Count Rises To 14

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The third Botswana female cheetah was successfully released into the wild at Kuno National Park on Wednesday. With this, the number of cheetahs in the free range has increased to 14.

Post-release, a monitoring team is keeping a close watch on the free-range cheetahs. On May 11, chief minister Mohan Yadav released two female Botswana cheetahs into the wild.

Speaking to Free Press, field director of Kuno National Park Uttam Kumar Sharma, said nineBotswana cheetahs were brought to Kuno and, of them, three female cheetahs have been released into the wild. Six more Botswana cheetahs are yet to be released into the wild.

No plan to bring back

Kuno officials said that after a leopard killed four cubs of female cheetah KGP 12, there is no plan to rescue the mother cheetah from the wild. “She has to learn how to survive in the wild and protect the cubs.

There is no plan to intervene in the matter,” said a Kuno official. Notably, female cheetah KGP 12 was the first Indian-born cheetah to give birth to four cubs on April 11 in Sheopur territorial division. The area has a leopard population. One of the leopards is suspected to have killed the four cubs on Tuesday.