Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cheetahs will be released into Sagar’s Nauradehi Sanctuary during the monsoon season from Kuno National Park.
It has not yet been decided whether the recently brought Botswanian cheetahs or the ones from Namibia and South Africa will be translocated.
A senior forest officer at Kuno National Park told Free Press that Nauradehi Sanctuary is currently working on the basic infrastructure needed for the Cheetah Project.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was scheduled to visit Nauradehi Sanctuary on Saturday to lay the foundation stone for construction of enclosures, but his programme was postponed at the eleventh hour.
Under the Cheetah Project, it is mandatory to have quarantine enclosures and bomas (fenced areas). Quarantine enclosures are small, while bomas are larger fenced areas where cheetahs can roam freely and hunt.
It is still undecided how many enclosures will be built in Nauradehi Sanctuary. At the same time, the sanctuary is also planning a modern treatment facility to care for ailing cheetahs.
Kuno National Park is the first home to cheetahs, followed by Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Mandsaur. Sources say construction of enclosures takes at least three months, leaving ample time before the monsoon for completion.
In the meantime, Nauradehi officers have already relocated villages from the area notified for the cheetah project. Sanctuary officials are eager to welcome the cheetahs, which are expected to boost tourism footprints in the region.
