India
pti-PTI
Sheopur
(MP),
Nov
05:
Two
of
the
eight
cheetahs
in
Madhya
Pradesh’s
Kuno
National
Park
(KNP)
were
on
Saturday
released
into
an
acclimatisation
enclosure
from
the
quarantine
area
where
they
were
kept
since
translocated
from
Namibia
in
mid-September,
an
official
said.
“Two
cheetahs
were
released
in
the
larger
enclosure
from
the
quarantine
zones
on
Saturday.
The
remaining
six
cheetahs
will
also
be
released
in
the
(acclimatisation
enclosure)
in
a
phased
manner,”
KNP
Divisional
Forest
Officer
(DFO)
Prakash
Kumar
Verma
confirmed
to
PTI.
He
said
the
two
cheetahs
were
not
released
in
an
enclosure
where
a
leopard
was
traced
earlier.
The
cheetahs,
released
in
a
bigger
zone
on
Saturday,
were
together
in
the
quarantine
enclosure,
the
DFO
added.
The
larger
enclosure
is
an
area
of
more
than
five
square
km,
officials
had
earlier
said.
Eventually,
the
eight
cheetahs
will
be
released
into
the
wild
as
per
plans.
The
eight
cheetahs
–
five
females
and
three
males
in
the
30-66
month
age
group-
were
released
in
the
dedicated
quarantine
zones
at
KNP
on
September
17
at
a
function
by
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi,
heralding
the
return
of
the
big
cats
to
India
70
years
after
they
were
declared
extinct
in
the
country.
As
per
initial
plans,
the
cheetahs-
named
Freddy,
Alton,
Savannah,
Sasha,
Obaan,
Asha,
Cibili
and
Saisa
–
were
to
be
kept
in
quarantine
for
a
month.
According
to
international
norms,
wild
animals
must
be
kept
in
quarantine
for
a
month
to
check
the
spread
of
any
infection
before
and
after
their
translocation
to
another
country,
experts
had
said.
Since
their
release
on
September
17,
the
eight
cheetahs
were
housed
in
six
‘bomas’
(enclosures),
two
of
which
are
50
metres
x
30
metres
while
the
rest
four
measured
25
square
metres
in
area.
They
were
provided
buffalo
meat,
the
officials
had
said.
The
last
cheetah
died
in
India
in
Koriya
district
in
present-day
Chhattisgarh
in
1947,
and
the
species
was
declared
extinct
in
1952.