One Namibian Cheetah Escapes From Kuno, Ventures Into Village Area

Bhopal: One of the cheetahs that were brought to Kuno National Park from South Africa’s Namibia caused panic among nearby villagers.

The big cat entered the Jhar Baroda village of Vijaypur in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh.

The Kuno National Park is 20 kilometres away from the village, where the cheetah reportedly entered and is now being searched by a monitoring team.

On getting information about this, Van Amla and Cheeta Mitra immediately reached the spot. After this, all efforts have been started to somehow drive the tiger back to the forest.

Local DFO said that one of the cheetahs brought from Namibia named Ovan had entered Jhar-Baroda village. This village is about 20 kilometers away from Kuno National Park. The monitoring team has also reached the village at present.

The officials of the Cheetah Task Force had recently released cheetahs named Ovan, Asha, Freddy and Elton from the enclosure into the open forest. Since then, these four are continuously being seen coming out of Kuno, sometimes in Tiktoli area and sometimes in Moravan area.

 The villagers say that a leopard has entered their fields since morning. At first we thought it was a leopard, but later it came to be known that it is a cheetah.

On the other hand, according to the information received now, senior officials of Kuno National Park are keeping a close watch on the cheetah by keeping a distance from it. For the time being, we are waiting for this cheetah to return on its own. But if this does not happen by the appointed time, then perhaps he/she will be tranquilised and taken back to Kuno.

One of the eight cheetahs in Kuno National Park, Sasha, a 5-year-old female cheetah, had died. Wildlife experts have considered renal failure as the cause of death. Sasha had been ill since January 22, being given only liquid foods due to dehydration. Before coming to India, Sasha was suffering from kidney disease.