GUWAHATI: Jwala, the Namibian Cheetah at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh has given birth to four cubs on January 23, as per reports.
The news comes a few weeks after another cheetah in Kuno, Aasha, gave birth to her cubs. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952. They were reintroduced through the project in 2022.
The news came amidst dwindling numbers of the cheetah along with the recent deaths of the Namibian cheetahs in Kuno National Park (KNP). India brought several felines from Namibia and South Africa as part of the Cheetah Reintroduction Project in 2022. The first batch of eight Namibian cheetahs were released into the Kuno National Park by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in mid-September 2022. This was followed by the translocation of around two dozen cheetahs from South Africa during the next few months.
Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav took to X to put out, “Wildlife wonders! As frontline wildlife warriors managed to get closer to Jwala, they found she had given birth to four, not three, cubs. This has increased our joy several times over. Congratulations all. We pray the cubs thrive and prosper at their home in India.”