Kuno in news again...Are cheetahs crossing border in search of food?

By Ankita Garg

After launching the ambitious cheetah re-introduction plan in Sheopur, Kuno National Park is continuously facing issue to keep the cats engaged inside the park periphery. Cheetah Steering Committee started releasing the Nambian cheetahs into wild from March 2023 onwards by setting Obana and Asha free into the open forest. Since the day, Kuno National Park remained in new to capturing the cheetahs absconded from its periphery and tranquillised them to bring back.Spotted cat Pawan had crossed the border various times and reached in Uttar Pradesh. The cheetah was tranquillised for three times to bring him back to Sheopur. Later, the cheetah was put into enclosure as he was crossing the borders frequently. Cheetah Asha was also found missing from the location various times and she also tried to enter the neighbouring states. Forest team has now started to re-launch the cheetah into wild after gap of four to five months. Cheetah Agni and Vayu were released into wild on December 19. Then two other cheetahs Veera and Pawan were released one after another in separate dates.

On December 25, it was reported that cheetah Agni had entered to Baran district of Rajasthan. Forest team transqualised the cheetah and brought back to the park. The team decided to keep the cheetah in enclosure for few days. Talking about the issue, KNP Field Director Uttam Sharma said, “sometimes wild animal travel long distance in search of food or some other reasons. Our team is there to monitor the cats and if require, they will be tranquillised and bring back to the park. Agni was brought back and now put behind the enclosure for a few days.” ‘The Hitavada’ had earlier raised an issue of declining prey for cheetahs in Kuno on December 22. In a recent report of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun, it was revealed that population of cheetal which is favourite food for cheetah is declining around the park. Experts said that in lack of prey, big cats prefer to travel long distance and same thing is being happen in the park. Ajay Dubey, wildlife activists and Secretary of NGO Prayatna, said, “Population of cheetal is declining in Kuno Park and as a result, cheetahs are crossing borders. He further said that cheetahs were in captive for past four to five months and during this period, forest officials did not focus towards the population of herbivore.

In a survey held during January 2023, Kuno had 18 cheetals per sqkm of area and now it is declined to 16 cheetal per sqkm of area. Forest officials informed that during year 2013, there were 61 cheetals in per sqkm of area but during year 2021, their population remained as 23 per sqkm of area. They said main prey-base of cheetah is cheetal because they are physically weak to kill other animals. On an average, cheetah kills prey on three to four days. As per standard measure, there should be at least 27 cheetals in one sqkm of area. However, PCCF Aseem Srivastav has said that detail plan is ready to release cheetal into Kuno Park. He said that there are around 8,000 to 9,000 cheetals, peacocks, chinkaras, nilgays and other herbivore in more than 18,,000 of population. “We have planned to bring around 1300 cheetal from Kanha and Pench Tiger Reserve,” added the PCCF.