Pooja Bhatt Condemns Villagers for Attacking Namibian Cheetah, Cubs in MP
Pooja Bhatt criticized villagers in MP for pelting stones at a Namibian cheetah and her cubs, questioning India's decision to bring wildlife from Namibia and South Africa.
Renowned actor and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt has strongly condemned the recent stone-pelting attack on a female Namibian cheetah and her cubs at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park. She questioned why India continues to import wild animals if their safety cannot be ensured. For the uninitiated, villagers in MP pelted stones at a female Namibian cheetah, Jwala, and her four cubs who escaped the National Park and entered the rural areas.
In her angry note, Bhatt said that India shouldn’t have brought the cheetahs from Namibia, South Africa, if they were to be attacked and treated this way. Voicing her anger over the incident in Sheopur district, she stated, “This is exactly why we shouldn’t be importing animals into the country. Namibian cheetahs belong in Namibia."
related stories
Bhatt shared her thoughts after the Instagram page Street Dogs of Bombay uploaded a video of the incident. The disturbing footage captured villagers hurling stones and waving sticks at Jwala and her cubs, which led to one of the cheetahs pouncing on a calf.
In 2022, eight Southeast African cheetahs—five females and three males, aged four to six—were transported from Namibia and placed in a quarantined enclosure at Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh. Among them is Jwala.
A recent ANI report revealed that a mother cheetah and her cubs strayed beyond Kuno National Park’s boundary and entered a village, causing panic among locals. This marked the first such incident. On Sunday evening, Jwala was spotted near Veerpur tehsil, attempting to hunt a calf, but villagers intervened, chasing her away with sticks.
Cheetah Project Director Uttam Sharma urged villagers not to chase or attack the animals. He assured that cattle owners would receive compensation if a cheetah killed their livestock.
Currently, 17 cheetahs are roaming freely in Kuno National Park.
- Location :
- First Published: