Cheetahs flown from Namibia make their first hunt in Kuno National Park
1 min read 07 Nov 2022, 04:31 PM ISTThe cheetahs were reintroduced under by Prime Minister Modi on September 17, more than 70 years after being declared extinct
PremiumThe two cheetahs who were flown from Namibia to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park made their first fill within 24 hours of being released from quarantine to a larger acclimatization enclosure. The male Cheetahs hunted down a cheetal (spotted deer) either on Sunday night or the early hours of Monday and the forest monitoring team got this information on Monday morning.
Freddie and Alton, the two male cheetahs, were released into the larger enclosure spread over 98 hectares on Saturday after being quarantined since September 17. The first hunt by the felines has also allayed concerns of the park management about their hunting abilities.
As per Kuno National Park Chief Conservator of Forest Uttam Kumar Sharma, “The cheetahs eat their prey within two hours of hunting,". He also said six other cheetahs will also be released in the acclimatized enclosure in a phased manner.
Since their release on September 17, the eight cheetahs have been kept in six "bomas" (enclosures), two of which are 50 metres x 30 metres in size and the other four are 25 square meters
Seventy years after being declared extinct in India, the eight cheetahs—five females and three males in the age group of 30-66 months—were released in the dedicated quarantine zones in the KNP on September 17 at a ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.
As part of the ambitious Project Cheetah initiative of the Indian government, cheetahs are being reintroduced into the wild in accordance with the IUCN's (International Union for Conservation of Nature) guidelines.
The eight cheetahs Freddy, Alton, Savannah, Sasha, Obaan, Asha, Cibili and Saisa - were to be kept in quarantine for a month, as per the initial plan. This was done keeping in mind the international norms which state wild animals must be kept in quarantine for a month to check the spread of any infection before and after their translocation to another country.
The last three cheetahs of India were hunted down by Maharaja of Koriya Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo in 1947-48 at Chattisgarh. Subsequently, the Indian government declared cheetahs extinct in 1952.
With inputs from agencies
