Namibian cheetah Jwala gives birth to 3 cubs at Kuno
Jwala, a Namibian cheetah, which was translocated to Madhya Pradesh, gave birth to three cubs at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The news was shared by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday. The minister posted a video on X and said: "Congratulations to all wildlife frontline warriors and wildlife lovers across the country." On January 3, another Namibian cheetah gave birth to three cubs.
Kuno now has 7 cubs, 13 adult cheetahs
The Kuno National Park now has seven cubs and 13 adult cheetahs. According to the Hindustan Times, the park's field director Uttam Kumar Sharma said, "We are happy that female cheetahs adapted well and are expanding the families." "Pawan, a cheetah who explored the forest the most, is the father of all the seven cubs," he added.
Watch: Video shared by Yadav
Jwala gave birth to 4 cubs last year, 1 survived
In March 2023, Jwala gave birth to four cubs, of which only one survived. According to Sharma, Jwala's second litter is healthy. "We are monitoring it from a distance. Their survival rate is higher than the previous one," he said. "The three cubs of Jwala, who were born last year, couldn't survive as she became the mother for the first time and couldn't handle the cubs well," he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Project Cheetah
Jwala is among the eight cheetahs were brought to Kuno from Namibia on September 17, 2022 after a decades-long effort to restore a species that was declared extinct from the country in 1952. As part of the Project Cheetah, another 12 cheetahs were translocated from South Africa on February 18, 2023. India reportedly plans to bring in five to 10 cheetahs each year over the next decade, with the goal of establishing a viable population of approximately 35 cheetahs.
10th cheetah death reported in Kuno in January
Last week, Shaurya, a cheetah translocated from Namibia, died at the MP park. Shaurya's death was the 10th such case since the cheetah reintroduction project began in 2022. According to reports, a tracking team noticed Shaurya exhibiting unsteady movements and an uncoordinated gait around 11am. He was tranquilized and examined. The cheetah died later in the day.
Case in SC on cheetah deaths
The string of cheetah deaths last year led to a clutch of pleas being filed in the Supreme Court, seeking its intervention in the matter. In August 2023, SC said that it had "no reason to disbelieve" the Centre on efforts being undertaken to stop the deaths of cheetahs. The bench, however, remarked that the death of six out of 20 cheetahs brought into the country, and three of four cubs born in India, is "not low".
