A dozen cheetahs from South Africa lands in the Kuno National Park

Sheopur: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday released 12 South African cheetahs – including five females – into an enclosure within Kuno National Park thus taking the state’s cheetah population to 20.

Among the dignitaries who graced the occasion – which coincided with the festival of Mahashivratri – were Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav, central Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and state Forest Minister Vijay Shah.

The dozen carnivores were first conveyed to Gwalior aboard an IAF special plane, medically examined and thence departed on helicopters for Kuno where comprehensive arrangements are in place. Ten quarantine bomas and a couple of isolation wards are ready, it was officially learnt.

Mr Chouhan expressed heartfelt gratitude towards “visionary” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“This will prove crucial from the tourism and employment angles,” he wrote in social media.

On September 17, 2022; Mr Modi released eight such beasts that were brought from Namibia.

Less than 7,000 wild cheetahs in the wild

The cheetah population has severely declined globally, with fewer than 7,000 in the wild today, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The Asiatic cheetah, which once roamed India, is found only in Iran today and is classified as critically endangered.

The Indian government said it made its decision to import the big cats from South Africa since it was one of the last remaining cheetah strongholds.

Loss of habitat meant that cheetahs were declared wiped out in 1952 in India. They remain the first and the only large carnivore to have died out nationally since India's independence in 1947.

India hopes that a reintroduction of the wild cats will conserve the country's threatened grasslands.