Madhya Pradesh CM To Release Three Cheetahs In Wild At Kuno National Park

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will release three cheetahs kept in enclosures at Kuno National Park in district into the wild on Thursday to mark International Cheetah Day, officials said.

After they are released in the wild, these cheetahs will be able to live in a completely natural environment, said District Collector Arpit Verma.

The chief minister will release female cheetah Veera and her two 10-month-old cubs, said Uttam Kumar Sharma, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (APCCF) and Director, Lion Project.

The event will take place in the Parond forest area, a designated tourism zone within Kuno National Park, where the presence of the cheetah family is expected to further enhance ecotourism opportunities and public engagement with Project Cheetah.

Post-release monitoring will continue through advanced radio-tracking and dedicated field teams to ensure their safety and successful integration into the landscape, it said.

On this occasion, the chief minister will also release the Kuno National Park Calendar for 2026 along with the newly developed 'Field Manual for Clinical Management of Free-Ranging Cheetahs in KNP.'

In addition, Yadav will inaugurate the newly-built souvenir shop.

Collector Arpit Verma and Superintendent of Police Sudhir Agarwal reviewed preparations and inspected the cheetah release point on Wednesday.

Shivpuri Collector Ravindra Chaudhary and Superintendent of Police Aman Singh Rathore were also present.

Earlier in April, the chief minister had released two cheetahs from Kuno National Park into the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Mandsaur district.

The ambitious Project Cheetah is aimed at reintroducing the spotted big cat in the wild in India.

For this purpose, cheetahs have been brought from South Africa, Kenya, and Botswana. As per an official statement issued in April, there are 26 cheetahs at Kuno National Park at present.