Bhopal: A six-year-old female Namibian cheetah has given birth to three cubs in Kuno National Park, officials have said — the first such birth in nine months. Officials see the birth of the cubs as a major success for Project Cheetah, which has seen at least nine cheetah deaths, including three of the four cubs born in Kuno last March.
According to Kuno’s Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Uttam Sharma, satellite images showed that the female cheetah, Aasha, gave birth to the cubs on 26 December inside the soft bomas — intermediary enclosures where the cheetahs are kept before they are released into the wild.
“The cubs are healthy, about seven days old, and have started opening their eyes. Aasha is still in the softer enclosure,” he said, adding, “We might have missed a cub or so, but there definitely are three cubs.”
This is the first such birth in the national park since March, when Siyaya, renamed Jwala, gave birth to four cubs. However, only one of the four survived.
Officials believe these cubs have a better chance at survival than Jwala’s. This, they believe, is because these births took place in the winter, whereas Jwala’s cubs were born in the summer.
They also saw the births as an affirmation that there’s a conducive environment for them at Kuno.
According to one senior forest official who didn’t want to be named, one of the major reasons three of Jwala’s cubs didn’t make it was that she herself was raised in captivity and was not fully wild.
“After giving birth, Jwala had abandoned the cubs and by the time the forest officials could rescue them, three or the four cubs had died,” the official told ThePrint.
In contrast, the official said that Aasha was “a wild cat” and will be in a better position to raise her cubs. However, while officials are releasing the other cheetahs that were confined to the enclosures in July-August after a spate of deaths, it’s unlikely that Aasha will be released into the wild soon.
“It is not safe for the cubs to be put in the wild considering the threat to them in the form of animals such as jackals. But in due course, the cubs and Aasha will be released into the wild,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav took to X to share the news of the new birtsh.
“Thrilled to share that Kuno National Park has welcomed three new members. The cubs have been born to Namibian Cheetah Aasha. This is a roaring success for Project Cheetah, envisioned by PM Narendra Modi to restore ecological balance,” he said.
Purrs in the wild!
Thrilled to share that Kuno National Park has welcomed three new members. The cubs have been born to Namibian Cheetah Aasha.
This is a roaring success for Project Cheetah, envisioned by PM Shri @narendramodi ji to restore ecological balance.
My big congrats… pic.twitter.com/c1fXvVJN4C
— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) January 3, 2024
Also Read: Kuno CCF on cheetah deaths — ‘action plan made in advance, things happen differently on ground’