Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cheetah Task Force Committee did discussion over the methodology to release the eight Namibian cheetahs into the wild on Tuesday. So far date to release them into the wild from their big enclosures has not been fixed but they would be released one by one, not altogether.
A Kuno National Park officer said if Cheetahs are released into the wild one by one, then it would be easy for field staff to track the movement of cheetah and in knowing various kinds of problems in finding the location of the spotted cat. “ If all eight cheetahs are released into the wild in one go then it would be problematic to staff members to monitor them,” he said.
In the meantime, Cheetah Task Force also reviewed the preparations to bring 12 cheetahs from the South Africa to Kuno National Park.
“ The twelve Cheetahs (including 7 male, 5 female) from South Africa would be brought by Indian Air Force plane on February 18. The plane would land at Gwalior air port after taking off from South Africa. From Gwalior airport, Cheetahs would be taken to Kuno National Park by helicopter,’ said one of the Cheetah Task Force Committee members.
‘As many as 10 big enclosures have been prepared for the arriving 12 cheetahs’ said Kuno National Park Director Uttam Sharma to Free Press.
The arriving cheetahs would be first kept in quarantine and once their quarantine period is over, they would be shifted to their enclosures. With this, the number of Cheetahs at Kuno National Park would increase from eight to twenty.
Sources also said that Cheetah Committee Members quizzed KNP Director Uttam Sharma and DFO Prakash Varma about the preparations made at park for the arriving 12 cheetahs.
Cheetah Task Force Committee members also sought report of the ailing female Cheetah ‘ Shasha’ which is one of the eight Namibian Cheetahs. The authorities of KNP said the health of ‘Shasha’ is improving and once its regains its health, it would be released into the enclosure.
