India's environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Saturday announced the birth of five cubs to Aasha, a Namibian cheetah under Project Cheetah, at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, taking India's total cheetah population to 35 and the number of surviving Indian-born cubs to 24.
Sharing the update on X, Yadav said Aasha delivered the cubs on Saturday, marking the eighth successful cheetah litter in the country.
Last week, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav announced 8 more cheetahs would be brought in from Botswana – the country is said to have about 20% of the world's cheetahs – on February 28. He said he held detailed discussions with Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi on arrangements for the next phase of the re-introduction program, along with tourism development, expansion of reserve forests and wildlife conservation in the state.
Project Cheetah is the world's first intercontinental large carnivore translocation program. It was launched on September 17, 2022, with the aim of re-introducing the species to India, where cheetahs had gone extinct since 1952.
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