New Delhi/Bhopal, Oct 15 (IANS): The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Monday said that the process of shifting some cheetahs at the new enclosure of Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary from Kuno National Park (KNP) is likely to be started by end of this month.

Madhya Pradesh will have two sites for cheetahs after KNP. The Ministry of Forest and Climate Change had already chosen Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary - located on the bank of Chambal river in Mandsaur district as the second site for Cheetahs during a meeting here in Bhopal nearly one year ago.

Reportedly, at least two African Cheetahs Agni and Vayu are likely to be shifted from KNP to Gandhi Sagar as a pilot project. If the felines survive at their new destination, a few more Cheetahs will be shifted in the second phase.

At present, KNP has as many as 24 Cheetahs, of them 12 cubs, who are Indian-borne Cheetahs. Also, evidence of the success of India's ambitious 'project cheetah' was introduced at KNP on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday on September 17, 2022.

Earlier, the officials in the Madhya Pradesh Wildlife Department, who are associated with the project had told IANS that KNP has the capacity to accommodate a maximum of 20 cheetahs.

The Cheetah Project Steering Committee, which was constituted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) - the nodal agency for the project, is monitoring the situation of Cheetahs regularly and their recommendation for shifting them at Gandhi Sagar will be crucial.

Reports suggested that the Forest Ministry has sorted out some final issues, like prey augmentation to ensure that there are no other predators in the regions that could affect prey supply at Gandhi Sagar.

Also, if the Cheetahs shifted at the new site survive, then the next batch of Cheetahs from South Africa and Kenya (things are under process), will be released to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Since the death of Pawan, a Namibian cheetah, on August 27, there have been no free-ranging cheetahs in India. Around 12-15, Cheetahs are expected to be brought in the third phase of overseas translocation.

Since the beginning of Project Cheetah, 20 cheetahs have been brought to the country, of which eight have died. In India, a total of 17 cubs were born, of which five have died.