Bhopal: Decision is yet to be taken on the release of cheetahs, kept in the large enclosures in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh since last one year, in the wild, a senior forest officer said on Saturday.

Twelve adult cheetahs and an equal number of cubs have been shifted to the large enclosures in the national park since August last year for their regular health checkups after three felines succumbed to septicemia caused by maggot infestation.

“No decision has so far been taken on the release of the cheetahs in the wild in the KNP. All the agencies dealing with the cheetah project are reviewing the situation regularly. Hopefully, a decision in this regard may be taken very soon”, a senior forest officer of KNP told this newspaper, requesting not to be quoted.

Sources said that the steering committee on the cheetah project may sit in a couple of weeks to take a decision on the release of cheetahs in the wild in KNP.

“The cheetahs will be released in the wild in phases after examining their health. They will certainly not be released in one go”, the forest officer said.

The forest officer disclosed that the seven cheetah cubs who suffered from tick infestation earlier have now ‘completely recovered’.

“Usually, the cheetah cubs face the issue of tick infestation during monsoon. It is already a month since the monsoon has withdrawn”, he added.

All I can say is that all the 24 cheetahs in KNP are healthy and are ready to move to the wild.

All of them have been kept in the large enclosures which are semi-wild, he said.

Eight cheetahs were brought to the KNP from Namibia in September 2022 under the cheetah introduction project.

Four months later, 12 more cheetahs were trans-located from South Africa to KNP.

Some of the adult cheetahs and cubs, born in KNP, died due to various reasons in the last two years.

The national park now has 24 cheetahs including 12 cubs.