Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) has three new guests after the Namibian cheetah Jwala gave birth to three cubs. Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav announced the births via his social media accounts with a video of the newborn cubs on Tuesday, January 23.
This is the second cheetah to give birth at Kuno this year after Aasha, another Namibian cheetah, delivered three cubs in the first week of January. The first cheetah at Kuno to give birth was Shaurya. The cheetah gave birth last year, but unfortunately out of the four cubs only one has survived.
Sharing the video of Jawla’s cubs on X, Bhupendra Yadav said, “Kuno’s new cubs! A Namibian cheetah named Jwala has given birth to three cubs. This comes just weeks after Namibian cheetah Aasha gave birth to her cubs. Congratulations to all wildlife frontline warriors and wildlife lovers across the country. May Bharat’s wildlife thrive.”
On January 16, Shaurya died under ‘suspicious circumstances’. Shaurya was the 10th cheetah which died after 20 specimens were introduced to Kuno.
The cheetahs were translocated to Kuno from South Africa and Namibia as a part of the Union government's initiative to revive the cheetah population in India.
The Cheetah Reintroduction Project involved releasing eight cats from Namibia, comprising five females and three males, into enclosures at Kuno on September 17, 2022. Subsequently, in February 2023, an additional 12 cheetahs were transported to the park from South Africa. In December, 2023, four cheetahs were set free into the wild, but two of them were later captured and moved to enclosures.