BHOPAL — In a major milestone for India’s cheetah conservation program, five new cubs have been born at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district, furthering the country’s ambitious efforts to reintroduce the endangered species.
The cubs were born to Nirva, a five-year-old female cheetah, marking another significant achievement in the global translocation and breeding initiative. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav announced the news on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Once again, Kuno National Park brings us wonderful news. Nirva has given birth to five healthy cubs, raising the total number of cheetahs in the state to 31.”
Dr. Yadav praised the dedication of the park staff and credited this success to India’s broader biodiversity conservation initiatives under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav also celebrated the announcement, sharing the update and commending the team’s efforts.
Earlier this month, two cheetahs, Prabhas and Pavak, were relocated from KNP to Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur district as part of an intra-regional translocation program, temporarily reducing Kuno’s cheetah population to 24. With the birth of Nirva’s cubs, the number of cheetahs at Kuno now stands at 29.
India’s native Asiatic cheetah was declared extinct in the mid-20th century, with only a critically endangered population surviving in Iran. In a historic move to reintroduce the species, eight Southeast African cheetahs—classified as a non-native subspecies—were brought to India from Namibia in September 2022. Prime Minister Modi released them into the enclosures at Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022, marking the species’ return to Indian soil after nearly 70 years.
The program expanded in February 2023 when 12 more cheetahs were brought from South Africa, further strengthening the gene pool for the reintroduction effort.
India’s cheetah reintroduction project has a long history, dating back to proposals in the 1970s and 1980s to import cheetahs from Iran and Kenya, though those initiatives never materialized. In 2012, India’s Supreme Court initially blocked the translocation plan, citing concerns over introducing a foreign subspecies. However, renewed interest and support in recent years revived the project, which is now beginning to yield encouraging results.
The birth of Nirva’s cubs represents not just a success for the cheetah population in India but also a global symbol of wildlife restoration, demonstrating that with the right commitment and resources, endangered species can be brought back from the brink. (Source: IANS)
