BHOPAL: Two South African male cheetahs–Prabhas and Pavak–recently shifted to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary have forged a friendly alliance with farmers in western Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur and Neemuch districts. The cheetahs' preference for nilgais (blue bulls) have alleviated fear of crop damage and accidents, sources said.
The cheetahs were shifted from the Kuno National Park (KNP) of Sheopur district on April 20. Since then, nilgais have become the male cheetah's preferred prey.
Farmers, particularly in western MP, have been unable to tackle the problems caused by nilgais, which damage the crops and lead to major financial loss.
“Out of the 30-plus kills in the last 80 days, 70% have been nilgais, while the remaining 30% included spotted deer, chinkara and hares. Over the last few weeks, the two male cheetahs aged six years, have been killing a nilgai every second or third day,” division forest officer (DFO-Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary) Sanjay Raikhere told TNIE on Friday.
Importantly, during Vidhan Sabha’s budget session in March, several legislators, cutting across party lines, led by Mandsaur seat’s Congress MLA Vipin Jain had expressed concern over the rising threat of nilgais to the safety of human lives and crops.
Concurring with the concerns raised by the opposition Congress as well as ruling BJP members over the issue, the Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar had asked the state government to make a systematic plan after consulting experts to deal with the issue.
The state forest department plans to use helicopters to drive away nilgais and blackbucks, and then add them as prey base at the Kuno National Park and the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary.
As per sources in the department’s wildlife wing, the helicopter-driven exercise which is likely to start as a pilot project from western MP’s Shajapur district after monsoon, and later get replicated in other parts of the state, may initially focus on blackbucks.
But this growing preference of the male cheetahs for nilgais as their kills, may prompt the department to prominently include nilgais along with blackbucks in their plans, particularly when more African cheetahs are likely to be introduced at the same western MP wildlife sanctuary in the future.
Meanwhile, sources privy to the cheetah reintroduction project said that the two male cheetahs at the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary may be joined by a female cheetah from the Kuno National Park in the coming weeks.
There is also a possibility of more cheetahs being translocated from one of the African nations – Botswana, Namibia or South Africa – by December to India.
The fresh batch of African cheetahs, just like eight Namibian cheetahs in September 2022 and 12 South Africa cheetahs in February 2023, will first be quarantined at the Kuno National Park, before being shifted to elsewhere, particularly the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.