New Delhi: On the evening of Friday, May 19, three more cheetahs were released into the Kuno National Park’s open forest, reports said.
The national park in Madhya Pradesh, which is home to India’s Project Cheetah, saw the deaths of three African cheetahs. The third, a female named Daksha, died on May 9.
The latest entrants are a female, Gamini, and two males Vayu and Agni, the news agency PTI has reported.
All three of them had been brought to India from South Africa, J.S. Chouhan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) said.
The Wire had reported in late April on the challenges surrounding Project Cheetah, especially pertaining to space. The Madhya Pradesh forest department, a report noted, recently wrote to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to look for “alternate” sites as Kuno could not accommodate more than 10 cheetahs.
The introduction of three more cheetahs takes the count to six.
Eleven translocated cheetahs and four cubs are yet left in enclosures to be released into the wild.