Team from Botswana May Visit Kuno National Park, Gandhi Sagar

-Bhopal: An official team from Botswana is scheduled to visit Kuno National Park (KNP) and Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary (GSWS) in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the relocation of a new group of eight cheetahs from the African country, a senior forest official said on Monday.

The expert team is expected to arrive in a few weeks, but the date of their visit to the two wildlife sanctuaries, the only cheetah habitat in Madhya Pradesh, is yet to be finalized.

“The date of the planned visit of the Botswana team has not been disclosed to us yet,” KNP field director Uttam Kumar Sharma told this newspaper.

However, a senior forest officer disclosed to this newspaper on condition of anonymity that eight cheetahs, which are proposed to be shifted to KNP in Sheopur district and GSWS in Botswana’s Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh, have already been detected and quarantined in forests in the African country.

The forest official said that the relocation process will begin after the end of the quarantine period.

KNP, the first home of African cheetahs in the country, is home to 27 cheetahs, including 16 cubs, while GSWS has three cheetahs that were recently shifted from Kuno.

Official sources said the new group of eight cheetahs may land in Kuno and Gandhi Sagar by December this year.

In another development, a team of South African experts visited KNP and GSWS last week to examine the cheetah introduction project.

A senior forest official said the South African team was impressed by the conservation of cheetahs in Kuno National Park and was amazed to notice some of the improvements, such as healthy symbiosis between cheetahs and humans living on the edges of the KNP.

“They were surprised to learn that cheetahs frequent human settlements and develop harmonious relationships with the local people,” Mr. Sharma said.