Tag: Namibia

  • Cheetah from Namibia gives birth to four cubs at MP’s Kuno National Park 

    By PTI

    SHEOPUR/BHOPAL: A cheetah translocated from Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh has given birth to four healthy cubs, officials said on Wednesday.

    The happy news came in the wake of the death of another relocated female cheetah at the Park two days ago.

    A total of 20 felines — eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa — were brought to Kuno National Park in Sheopur district since last September.

    The cubs were believed to have been born five days ago but they were spotted by officials on Wednesday, a senior forest official said.

    `Siyaya’, their mother, was among the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia.

    “It is a matter of happiness that Siyaya gave birth to four cubs,” Sheopur divisional forest officer P K Varma told reporters.

    The mother and the cubs were fine and healthy, he added.

    In fact, Siyaya has killed two animals since she became a mother, officials said.

    She has been kept in a big enclosure at the park as of now.

    Sasha, another female cheetah brought from Namibia, died of a kidney-related illness on March 27.

    A female cheetah generally gives birth 90 to 93 days after mating.

    As Namibian cheetahs were brought here on September 17, 2022, Siyaya would have mated after her arrival in India.

    The four new-born cubs can be said to be `Indian cheetahs’, born in the wild on Indian soil after the last cheetah was hunted in the Korean district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947.

    This fastest land animal species was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

    The relocation of cheetahs from Africa is part of an ambitious plan to revive their population in India.

    Twelve cheetahs brought from South Africa in February 2023 are housed in a quarantine enclosure and are healthy and active, a forest official said.

    The Namibian cheetahs — five female and three male — were released into enclosures at the KNP on September 17 at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    SHEOPUR/BHOPAL: A cheetah translocated from Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh has given birth to four healthy cubs, officials said on Wednesday.

    The happy news came in the wake of the death of another relocated female cheetah at the Park two days ago.

    A total of 20 felines — eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa — were brought to Kuno National Park in Sheopur district since last September.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    The cubs were believed to have been born five days ago but they were spotted by officials on Wednesday, a senior forest official said.

    `Siyaya’, their mother, was among the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia.

    “It is a matter of happiness that Siyaya gave birth to four cubs,” Sheopur divisional forest officer P K Varma told reporters.

    The mother and the cubs were fine and healthy, he added.

    In fact, Siyaya has killed two animals since she became a mother, officials said.

    She has been kept in a big enclosure at the park as of now.

    Sasha, another female cheetah brought from Namibia, died of a kidney-related illness on March 27.

    A female cheetah generally gives birth 90 to 93 days after mating.

    As Namibian cheetahs were brought here on September 17, 2022, Siyaya would have mated after her arrival in India.

    The four new-born cubs can be said to be `Indian cheetahs’, born in the wild on Indian soil after the last cheetah was hunted in the Korean district of present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947.

    This fastest land animal species was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

    The relocation of cheetahs from Africa is part of an ambitious plan to revive their population in India.

    Twelve cheetahs brought from South Africa in February 2023 are housed in a quarantine enclosure and are healthy and active, a forest official said.

    The Namibian cheetahs — five female and three male — were released into enclosures at the KNP on September 17 at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

  • MP wildlife officials say no female cheetah at Kuno National Park pregnant

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the donor agency that provided eight cheetahs to India before they were released at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) on September 17, has not confirmed that any of the five female cats are pregnant, a top forest official of the state said today.

    “There is nothing to support the October 1 media reports that one of the female cheetahs is pregnant,” said Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J S Chauhan. According to reports, one of the cheetahs, named Asha, has been “exhibiting all behavioural, physical and hormonal signs” of being pregnant. Asha was among the cheetahs picked from the Namibian wilds.

    But Chauhan, who dismissed the reports, said that “Neither has the donor agency (CCF) confirmed nor have we conducted any test based on which it can be said that one of the cheetahs is pregnant.”

    Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dean and Senior Scientist Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala, who and eight other researchers have been maintaining round-the-clock observation over the cheetahs, dismissed the reports as being based on “rumours”.

    ALSO READ | Forest Survey of India finds 6421 trees felled for Modi’s dream Pakhro tiger safari project

    Disclosing that “ultrasonography tests were done on all the eight cheetahs”, Jhala said that “it is possible that she had embryos which were at a very primitive stage and the long, stressful long flight,” may have taken its toll. A WII researcher, who is part of a team, also dismissed the reports, saying, “there is no indication that any of the female cheetahs are pregnant”.

    ALSO READ | PM calls for making Kuno best cheetah habitat

    Each of the cheetahs is in separate (50 mt x 30 mt) enclosures during the ongoing month-long quarantine. “So there is no question that any male-female pair mated after reaching Kuno,” Chauhan said.

    The cheetahs “will be eligible” on October 17 for moving to the bigger enclosure – 5.5 sq km – where they will be able to hunt on their own, Chauhan said, adding that “depending on their health and adaptability, they will remain in these nine enclosures for three to four months”.

    Pointing out that besides the eight cheetahs, 12 others of the South African variety were “earlier supposed to arrive together”, Chauhan said that the second batch of the big cats will now “hopefully reach here in October itself” provided the Indian and South African governments first sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

    NEW DELHI: The Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the donor agency that provided eight cheetahs to India before they were released at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) on September 17, has not confirmed that any of the five female cats are pregnant, a top forest official of the state said today.

    “There is nothing to support the October 1 media reports that one of the female cheetahs is pregnant,” said Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J S Chauhan. According to reports, one of the cheetahs, named Asha, has been “exhibiting all behavioural, physical and hormonal signs” of being pregnant. Asha was among the cheetahs picked from the Namibian wilds.

    But Chauhan, who dismissed the reports, said that “Neither has the donor agency (CCF) confirmed nor have we conducted any test based on which it can be said that one of the cheetahs is pregnant.”

    Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dean and Senior Scientist Dr Yadvendradev V Jhala, who and eight other researchers have been maintaining round-the-clock observation over the cheetahs, dismissed the reports as being based on “rumours”.

    ALSO READ | Forest Survey of India finds 6421 trees felled for Modi’s dream Pakhro tiger safari project

    Disclosing that “ultrasonography tests were done on all the eight cheetahs”, Jhala said that “it is possible that she had embryos which were at a very primitive stage and the long, stressful long flight,” may have taken its toll. A WII researcher, who is part of a team, also dismissed the reports, saying, “there is no indication that any of the female cheetahs are pregnant”.

    ALSO READ | PM calls for making Kuno best cheetah habitat

    Each of the cheetahs is in separate (50 mt x 30 mt) enclosures during the ongoing month-long quarantine. “So there is no question that any male-female pair mated after reaching Kuno,” Chauhan said.

    The cheetahs “will be eligible” on October 17 for moving to the bigger enclosure – 5.5 sq km – where they will be able to hunt on their own, Chauhan said, adding that “depending on their health and adaptability, they will remain in these nine enclosures for three to four months”.

    Pointing out that besides the eight cheetahs, 12 others of the South African variety were “earlier supposed to arrive together”, Chauhan said that the second batch of the big cats will now “hopefully reach here in October itself” provided the Indian and South African governments first sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

  • Cheetahs at KNP: Villagers fear land acquisition, human-animal conflict

    By PTI

    SHEOPUR: Amid the excitement over the arrival of Cheetahs in the Kuno National Park, villagers in the surrounding areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district have a variety of concerns including the fear of land acquisition and the fear of the big cat itself.

    Some people are, however, optimistic that once the KNP becomes famous for its new entrants, increased tourist footfall will create jobs.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at the KNP as part of a project to revive the population of the animal which became extinct in India in 1952.

    “What will happen to my small food outlet when the remaining four-five villages are shifted for the park? We are already affected financially because of the relocation of 25 villages for the Kuno Park over the last 15 years,” said Radheshyam Yadav, a vendor selling snacks and tea on Sheopur-Shivpuri road, speaking to PTI.

    His shop is at Sesaipura, 15 km from the KNP. Ramkumar Gurjar, a farmer, has apprehension that the people of Sesaipura will lose their livelihood due to a nearby dam project.

    “Villages were shifted earlier for the national park. Now a dam project is coming up on Kuno river in the nearby Katila area. This project is going to affect at least 50 villages which are connected to Sesaipura. After their shifting, what will happen to grocery, clothes and other small business outlets in Sesaipura? Then our village will be left alone here,” Gurjar told PTI.

    ALSO READ: India releases eight cheetahs into the wild, seven decades after local extinction

    Asked about the hope that the cheetahs will bring more tourists, he claimed that the hospitality business will be run by “rich outsiders” and local residents will only get menial jobs in hotels and restaurants.

    Santosh Gurjar, another resident, said that following the shifting of villages, a local shopkeeper who sold groceries, fertilizer and seeds had to shift to Shivpuri for lack of business.

    Dharmendra Kumar Ojha, who runs a clothes shop, apprehended that cheetahs may enter the villages.

    “What will the local people get from this project? Outsiders are buying up land for hotels and restaurants. The relocation of villages will further affect the business. But the project will bring infrastructural development,” Ojha said.

    Surat Singh Yadav, who runs a tea shop on the road leading to the national park, believes that the cheetah reintroduction project will generate employment in the area.

    “Land prices are going up. Those having legal title of land are asking for higher prices. There is a temporary jump in the business due to the PM’s programme but I can not say about the future,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Arrival of African cheetahs in India: A look back at the legal tangles and court battles

    Another shopkeeper, Keshav Sharma, claimed that his business has grown three times.

    “Land prices have gone up. Tourists used to come here in small numbers earlier but their numbers will certainly go up now,” he said.

    Kailash, a labourer and resident of village Tiktoli, two km from the KNP’s entry gate, was nervous about the future. “I don’t know about benefits, but I am afraid because the cheetah has come here. Where will we go,” he said.

    Kamal, who belongs to Tiktoli and currently lives in Sheopur, said the village has no water supply, telephone network and jobs and the only source of livelihood is subsistence farming.

    SHEOPUR: Amid the excitement over the arrival of Cheetahs in the Kuno National Park, villagers in the surrounding areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district have a variety of concerns including the fear of land acquisition and the fear of the big cat itself.

    Some people are, however, optimistic that once the KNP becomes famous for its new entrants, increased tourist footfall will create jobs.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning released eight cheetahs brought from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at the KNP as part of a project to revive the population of the animal which became extinct in India in 1952.

    “What will happen to my small food outlet when the remaining four-five villages are shifted for the park? We are already affected financially because of the relocation of 25 villages for the Kuno Park over the last 15 years,” said Radheshyam Yadav, a vendor selling snacks and tea on Sheopur-Shivpuri road, speaking to PTI.

    His shop is at Sesaipura, 15 km from the KNP. Ramkumar Gurjar, a farmer, has apprehension that the people of Sesaipura will lose their livelihood due to a nearby dam project.

    “Villages were shifted earlier for the national park. Now a dam project is coming up on Kuno river in the nearby Katila area. This project is going to affect at least 50 villages which are connected to Sesaipura. After their shifting, what will happen to grocery, clothes and other small business outlets in Sesaipura? Then our village will be left alone here,” Gurjar told PTI.

    ALSO READ: India releases eight cheetahs into the wild, seven decades after local extinction

    Asked about the hope that the cheetahs will bring more tourists, he claimed that the hospitality business will be run by “rich outsiders” and local residents will only get menial jobs in hotels and restaurants.

    Santosh Gurjar, another resident, said that following the shifting of villages, a local shopkeeper who sold groceries, fertilizer and seeds had to shift to Shivpuri for lack of business.

    Dharmendra Kumar Ojha, who runs a clothes shop, apprehended that cheetahs may enter the villages.

    “What will the local people get from this project? Outsiders are buying up land for hotels and restaurants. The relocation of villages will further affect the business. But the project will bring infrastructural development,” Ojha said.

    Surat Singh Yadav, who runs a tea shop on the road leading to the national park, believes that the cheetah reintroduction project will generate employment in the area.

    “Land prices are going up. Those having legal title of land are asking for higher prices. There is a temporary jump in the business due to the PM’s programme but I can not say about the future,” he said.

    ALSO READ| Arrival of African cheetahs in India: A look back at the legal tangles and court battles

    Another shopkeeper, Keshav Sharma, claimed that his business has grown three times.

    “Land prices have gone up. Tourists used to come here in small numbers earlier but their numbers will certainly go up now,” he said.

    Kailash, a labourer and resident of village Tiktoli, two km from the KNP’s entry gate, was nervous about the future. “I don’t know about benefits, but I am afraid because the cheetah has come here. Where will we go,” he said.

    Kamal, who belongs to Tiktoli and currently lives in Sheopur, said the village has no water supply, telephone network and jobs and the only source of livelihood is subsistence farming.

  • Cargo plane carrying cheetahs from Namibia leaves for Gwalior

    By PTI

    BHOPAL: The special cargo flight carrying eight cheetahs from Namibia left for Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on Friday night, a senior forest official said.

    The flight carrying eight cheetahs and crew left Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, at around 8.30 pm (Indian time) and the plane is expected to land at Gwalior’s Maharajpur air base at around 6 am on Saturday, Madhya Pradesh principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) J S Chauhan told PTI.

    After necessary formalities, including paperwork, at Gwalior the cheetahs will be flown to Palpur village in Sheopur district in two helicopters, including a Chinook, he said.

    From Palpur, the felines will be brought to Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district by road and will be subsequently released in quarantine enclosures inside the sanctuary, Chauhan added.

    BHOPAL: The special cargo flight carrying eight cheetahs from Namibia left for Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on Friday night, a senior forest official said.

    The flight carrying eight cheetahs and crew left Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, at around 8.30 pm (Indian time) and the plane is expected to land at Gwalior’s Maharajpur air base at around 6 am on Saturday, Madhya Pradesh principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) J S Chauhan told PTI.

    After necessary formalities, including paperwork, at Gwalior the cheetahs will be flown to Palpur village in Sheopur district in two helicopters, including a Chinook, he said.

    From Palpur, the felines will be brought to Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district by road and will be subsequently released in quarantine enclosures inside the sanctuary, Chauhan added.

  • Cheetahs to travel without food from Namibia to India: Official

    He had said according to the protocol, the animals need to be quarantined for a month each before and after shifting from one continent to another.