Escaped cheetah back in MP park, another still on run

A male cheetah that had strayed out of the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur and was spotted at an agricultural field adjoining a village a few days back, was rescued from a forest area in neighbouring Shivpuri district and released into the park again, a forest official said on Friday.

Oban, one of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia in September last year, had strayed out of the KNP on April 2 and the feline was rescued on Thursday evening, he said.

"After moving out of the KNP, Oban was wandering in nearby areas. On Wednesday, the feline reached the Bairad area in Shivpuri district via Vijaypur's Jhad Badora and Parvati Badoda areas and also hunted a blackbuck as he was hungry," divisional forest officer (DFO) P K Verma said.

After getting information that Oban is in the Bairad area, the cheetah monitoring team decided to rescue the animal. The team finally caught him around 5 pm on Thursday, he said.

After being rescued, Oban was brought back to the KNP and released into the Palpur forest area, the official said.

Verma, however, did not share details of the rescue operation, including whether the animal was tranquilised.

On the reports that a female cheetah -- Asha -- also moving out of the forest area, the DFO said she was wandering in the KNP's reserve area and the monitoring team is keeping an eye on her movements.

So far, four out of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia to the KNP in September, 2022, have been released into the wild (free range area) from enclosures.

Oban and Asha were released into the wild on March 11, almost six months after they were brought to the KNP, while Elton and Freddie, popularly known as "Rockstars", were released into park's free-range area on March 22.

The eight Namibian cheetahs -- five females and three males -- were brought to the KNP as part of the cheetah reintroduction programme aimed at reviving the species' population in India, where they became extinct more than 70 years ago.

The eight Namibian cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, were brought to the KNP as part of an ambitious reintroduction programme of the species and were released into special enclosures on September 17, 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

One of them, Sasha, died of a kidney ailment on March 27, while another, Siyaya, gave birth to four cubs.

Another set of 12 cheetahs, comprising seven males and five females, were brought to the KNP from South Africa on February 18 this year.