New Delhi: African cheetahs, transported to India in a historic intercontinental big cat translocation, are set to be released into the wild soon.
This comes nearly a year after they were placed in enclosures at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park for health assessments and observation, officials report.
The Centre’s Cheetah Project Steering Committee resolved on Friday to release the African cheetahs and their India-born cubs into the wild in stages post-monsoon.
“Committee members and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) officials visited Kuno to plan the cheetahs’ release. The adult cheetahs will be released in phases after the monsoon, while the cubs and their mothers will follow post-December,” stated an official. All 25 cheetahs—13 adults and 12 cubs—are reportedly in good health.
India welcomed its first group of eight cheetahs from Namibia in September 2022, followed by a second group of 12 from South Africa in February.
Initially, some cheetahs were released into the wild but were recaptured by August of the previous year following the septicemia-related deaths of three cheetahs—a Namibian female named Tbilisi and two South African males, Tejas and Sooraj.
The infection, which can occur when bacteria enter the bloodstream and multiply, was attributed to maggot-infested wounds beneath the cheetahs’ dense winter fur on their backs and necks, leading to blood infections, as per the government’s annual Project Cheetah report.
Officials had previously informed PTI that the cheetahs’ unexpected winter coat growth during the Indian summer and monsoon, in anticipation of the African winter, posed significant challenges in their first year of acclimatization in India.
