Cheetahs from South Africa likely to be brought to Madhya Pradesh next month

Bhopal: After months of delay, a dozen cheetahs from South Africa are likely to be finally flown into India next month and housed in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, where eight such felines from Namibia were brought last year under a project, an expert said.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between New Delhi and Pretoria (South Africa’s administrative capital) last week, the expert associated with India’s cheetah revival project told over phone on the condition of anonymity.

“I think the cheetahs from South Africa will land in India around mid-February,” he said.

South Africa has donated these big cats to India. But India has to pay USD 3,000 for the capture of every cheetah to the African nation before they are translocated, he said.

KNP director Uttam Sharma said, “We are waiting for the arrival of 12 South African cheetahs. We have set up 10 quarantine bomas (enclosures) for them. In two of these facilities, two pairs of cheetah brothers would be kept.”

“We have come to know that Pretoria has issued an order for the translocation of cheetahs after signing the MoU,” another official of the MP forest department said.

Due to the delay in the signing of the MoU for the inter-continental translocation of these big cats, some experts had last month expressed concern over the health of the South African cheetahs as these animals have been quarantined there since July 15.

The health condition of a female cheetah detected with an infection associated with kidneys and liver at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was much better now, a senior official said.

The cheetah, Sasha, is more than four-and-a-half years old and was diagnosed with hepatorenal, a kidney and liver-related infection, earlier this week. She is among eight cheetahs translocated from Namibia in September last year and housed in KNP in Sheopur district.

“She is much better,” MP Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) JS Chauhan told over the phone when asked about the feline’s health.