Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Kuno officials are keeping their fingers crossed over the upcoming Cheetah Steering Committee meeting and are hopeful that it would take the decision to release the cheetahs in the forest area. Currently, all 12 adult cheetahs and an equal number of cubs are housed in enclosures.
A senior officer of Kuno confirmed that cheetah would be released into the wild after the cheetah steering committee makes a decision in this regard. “We too are waiting for the permission of the Cheetah Steering Committee. The day the cheetah steering committee takes the decision, we will start releasing cheetahs into the wild,” he said.
Even as the government has approved the proposal to provide 541 square kilometer forest area of Sheopur and Shivpuri to Kuno National park, the handover exercise of aforesaid forest area is yet to take place.
Forest officer of Kuno said that “We are still waiting for the handover of 541 square kilometers of forest area. Currently the area of Kuno National Park is 1235 square km,” he added.
Notably, many months ago Kuno had demanded additional forest area for expansion so that cheetahs, when cheetahs are released into the wild, have vast areas to move on and create their own territory.
