New Delhi: Is there good news in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park? If some reports are to be believed, one of the cheetahs brought to India from Namibia may be pregnant. Eight cheetahs were reintroduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuna National Park on September 17, his birthday, as part of Project Cheetah.
“This is true, she may be pregnant. We cannot say for sure, but it is believed so, and this would be her first litter,” Dr Laurie Marker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, or the CCF, told India Today TV.
“We are waiting to see what happens next. The Project Cheetah team at Kuno, which includes the CCF, is getting ready. If she has cubs, this would be another gift from Namibia,” she said, adding, “We will know soon if this is certain. But it is highly likely she is pregnant.”
“If Aasha is pregnant, it will be her first litter, and because she was caught in the wild, it did happen in Namibia. If she has cubs, we need to give her privacy and quiet. No people around her. She should have a hay bale hut in her in her enclosure”, Dr Marker told The Times of India.
However, Prakash Kumar Verma, an official of the Kuno National Park, rubbished the news.
“The news of a female cheetah being pregnant is misleading. No test has been done and no pregnancy report has been given from Namibia. I don’t know how this news has spread,” he said.
Apart from her, three male cheetahs – Freddie, Elton, and Oban, and four females – Siyaya, Sasha, Tbilisi, and Savannah arrived from Namibia on the same day.
