Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is planning to bring cheetahs to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, offering wildlife enthusiasts a chance to see these fastest land animals without traveling to distant locations like Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
According to sources, the Nandankanan Zoo authorities have floated a tender to engage a private agency to handle the entire process, including identifying a suitable zoo abroad, managing transportation, and completing necessary international protocols and formalities associated with transferring a pair each of male and female cheetahs, possibly from South Africa. “A tender has been floated to select a private party that will oversee all operations, starting from selecting the zoo and bringing and keeping them in Nandankanan. Further approval is required from the government in terms of grant of funds, although tentatively it has been planned that help of patrons will be taken for the purpose,” Nandankanan Zoo director Sanath Kumar told TOI.
Kumar emphasized that the zoo will create appropriate facilities, including plain, meadow-rich enclosures, to suit their natural behaviour and ensure successful acclimatisation. Cheetahs, which are capable of sprinting up to 120 km/h, are agile predators that chase prey across open landscapes to exhaust them before the hunt.
This initiative follows similar efforts by the zoo, including a 2023 approval from the Central Zoo Authority for transfer of African cheetahs from Dubai Safari Park, which faced delays and was later scrapped.
Alongside the cheetahs, Nandankanan is set to welcome two pairs of red kangaroos from Australia. A new thematic zone called “Australian Adventures” is under development, featuring four modern enclosures mimicking arid grassland and woodland ecosystems. The area will showcase iconic Australian species such as kangaroos, cassowaries, and wallabies, offering visitors an immersive experience of the continent’s unique biodiversity, the sources added.
