Absconding South African Cheetah Captured After 22 Days in MP’s Kuno National Park

Bhopal: After a search for 22 days, wildlife staff on Sunday captured a female South African cheetah in the Kuno National Park for a health check.

Forest officials, veterinarians, elephants, a dog squad and drone teams were involved in this long search operation to track down a cheetah named Nirva.

Nirva’s satellite-linked locator stopped functioning on July 21, prompting forest officers to begin the search.

On Saturday, the satellite-linked device abruptly began to transmit her location and Nirva could be tracked down and captured.

Under Project Cheetah, eight cheetahs from Namibia were flown into Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in September last year. It was followed by arrival of 12 more cheetahs from South Africa in February this year.

India’s cheetah introduction project that seeks to establish clusters of wild cheetahs in unfenced wildlife sanctuaries has since March lost nine cheetahs — six of 20 adults brought from Namibia or South Africa and three of four cubs born in Kuno earlier this year.