Bhopal: A female cheetah in Kuno National Park (NP) in Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh is pregnant.The “exciting” news was shared by chief minister Mohan Yadav on his social media page on Sunday.“A female cheetah in the Kuno National Park in the cheetah state (Madhya Pradesh) of the country is soon going to deliver cubs. This is a sign of big achievement in the ‘cheetah project,” a post by Mr Yadav on X said.“Female cheetah Veera is pregnant and expected to deliver in the coming days,” Kuno NP field director Uttam Kumar Sharma told this newspaper.This would be the first litter of four and eight months old Veera who was brought to Kuno NP along with 11 other cheetahs from South Africa in February 2023.Mr Sharma however indicated that it would not be wise to hazard a guess regarding Veera’s mating partner at this stage.The identity of Veera’s mating partner will be disclosed very soon, he said.Kuno currently has 24 cheetahs including 12 cubs.The ‘exciting’ news comes amid reports that seven cheetah cubs in Kuno NP have been suffering from tick infection.The Kuno NP field director has recently written a letter to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) (wildlife) of Madhya Pradesh informing this.The Kuno authorities however say that the infection is in a very early stage.Eight cheetahs from Namibia were brought to Kuno NP in a first ever intercontinental translocation of carnivores in September 2022 under cheetah reintroduction project of India.Five months later, 12 more cheetahs were brought to Kuno NP from South Africa.Two female cheetahs Aasha and Jwala gave birth to cubs after their arrival in Kuno NP.Several adult cheetahs and cubs have perished in the last two years due to various reasons.
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