Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The 12 South African cheetahs released at Kuno National Park in Sheopur district on Saturday are healthy. They have been kept in quarantine for a period of one month, a period when they will also adjust themselves to their new home.
After one month, they will be shifted to big enclosures where they will hone up their hunting skills.
During the one-month quarantine, health of cheetahs will be under scanner. It will be checked whether they were infected with any disease before they were brought from South Africa. This is a common standard international protocol.
At present, they are under the watchful eyes of wildlife experts. Senior forest officers are taking note of every detail of newly arrived African cats.
Saturday was yet another historic day at Kuno National Park as 12 South African cheetahs joined the band of eight Namibian cheetahs. Now, Kuno has 20 cheetahs.
The 12 South African cheetahs belong to different gene pool. Their age is between two to eight years. Of them, the youngest cheetah is over two years old. The eldest cheetah’s age is over eight years. Talking to Free Press, Chief Conservator of Forest, Gwalior, Uttam Sharma said that all the newly arrived 12 cheetahs were healthy.
CM interacts with Cheetah Mitra at Kuno
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan interacted with Cheetah Mitra at Kuno National Park in Sheopur on Saturday. He said that employments will increase through the Cheetah project.
He also took information of cheetah awareness programme being conducted by the Cheetah Mitra. He added that the people of Karahal have conducted religious programmes praying for the recovery of ailing female Cheetah ‘Sasha’ and this shows that how much affection they have towards the cheetah.
Cheeta Mitra Chetan Bharadwaj recited a poem dedicated to Cheetah. He also presented a painting on cheetah made from the round pebbles of Kuno river. Another Cheetah Mitra Rani Adivasi informed the CM about the awareness programme being conducted for the security of cheetahs.
The CM interacted with the people who shunned the axe, bow and arrow with the pledge to conserve the jungle and wildlife. He inspected the exhibition displaying various pictures related to the pledge to shun axe, bow and arrow, etc.
The CM also interacted with the Self Help Group (SHG) women. These women thanked him for Ladli Behana Yojana. They tied ‘Rakhi’ and ‘Raksha Sotra’ on the right hand of the CM. The overwhelmed CM said that the Rakhi fastened by them would be put on display at CM House. Tribal lady Chameli informed that how job opportunities would surge through the medium of Cheetah Gramin Home Stay Scheme.
Kalia Kushwaha informed that how self dependency has increased after she got connected with livelihood activities. On this occasion, Union minister Bhupendra Yadav, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, forest minister Kunwar Vijay Shah were also present.
