Cheetah Neerva gives birth to cubs in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park

Bhopal: Cheetah Neerva has given birth to cubs at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, the state forest department said on Monday.

The exact number of cubs was not specified by the forest authorities.

"Good news from Kuno. Female cheetah Neerva has given birth to cubs in Kuno National Park located in Sheopur district," the MP forest department said in a post on X.

Last month, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had shared the information that a female cheetah was pregnant and was expected to deliver cubs soon.

Asked about reports on the birth of cubs in Kuno, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Aseem Shrivastava told PTI that he would not be able to comment until a confirmation from the park about the number of cubs born to the cheetah.

Prior to this, 17 cheetah cubs had been born at the KNP.

With 12 of those cubs surviving, the number of cheetahs at the KNP was last reported to be 24.

On September 17, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight cheetahs - five females and three males - brought from Namibia into enclosures at the KNP as part of the world's first intercontinental translocation of the big cats, nearly eight decades after cheetahs were hunted to extinction.

In February 2023, another 12 cheetahs were translocated to the national park in MP from South Africa as part of the Indian government's project to reintroduce cheetahs into the country.