MP national park releases last of its leopards to the wild
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Sheopur: Madhya Pradesh's Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) has let the last of its leopard into the wild. This was the sixth leopard roaming in the large enclosure meant for cheetahs.
Kuno's Divisional Forest Officer Prakash Kumar Verma said the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has informed as per camera traps that the last leopard came out of the enclosure on Friday. It was roaming in enclosure number six.
The enclosure was awaiting the arrival of eight cheetahs from Namibia in September under an ambitious initiative to reintroduce the fastest animal in the country. Six leopards entered the acclimatisation enclosures and five of them were evacuated. The last one left on Friday. Cheetahs haven't been released in this enclosure yet.
The cheetahs were first released to the KNP quarantine zone. Earlier this month, three cheetahs - Obaan, Alton, and Freddie - were shifted from the quarantine area to the acclimatisation enclosure.
"Obaan was released into the larger enclosure, spread over an area of 5 sq km, on November 18 while Elton and Freddie were moved to the acclimatisation enclosure on November 5. The other five cheetahs would also be shifted to the large enclosure this month, " said an official to PTI.
The group of five female and three male cheetahs is expected to repopulate the species in the country. India's last cheetah died in 1947 and was declared extinct in the region in 1952.