Namibian Cheetah Brought to India Gives Birth To 4 Cubs in Kuno National Park

Forest department officials said that the four cubs are completely healthy and are being monitored.

The mother cheetah, named Siyaya, was constantly being monitored by a special team. Forest department officials said that her four cubs are completely healthy and are being monitored as well.

(Photo: Twitter/Bhupender Yadav)

One of the cheetahs translocated to India's Kuno National Park (KNP) from Namibia last year has given birth to four cubs, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Wednesday, 29 March.

"I am delighted to share that four cubs have been born to one of the cheetahs translocated to India on 17th September 2022, under the visionary leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi ji," Yadav took to Twitter to say.

He also termed the news a "momentous event" in India's wildlife conservation history during "Amrit Kaal."

The mother cheetah, named Siyaya, was constantly being monitored by a special team. Forest department officials said that her four cubs are completely healthy and are being monitored as well.

This comes after one of the female cheetahs translocated to India, named Sasha, passed away on Monday due to a kidney ailment.

In September 2022, eight cheetahs had been brought from Namibia to India under Project Cheetah, which was initiated to revive the population of the world's fastest land animal in India, 70 years after they became extinct.

The cheetahs were put into enclosures in KNP, located in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, during a grand event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a second such translocation, 12 cheetahs were brought to KNP from South Africa on 18 February this year.

The last living Cheetah in India died in 1947 in the present-day Korea district of Chhattisgarh. The species was declared extinct in the country in 1952.