NEW DELHI: Maybe, the newly inducted Cheetahs don’t like their new home or possibly want to explore virgin territories. A cheetah named ‘Oban’ left its designated Kuno-Palpur National Park (KNP) habitat on Sunday and started his journey on the way to Shivpuri, more than 50 km towards the tiger territory of Madhav National Park (MNP) in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh.
On March 11, one tiger and two tigresses were released in MNP. Fortunately, there were no catfights. “Tigers are in enclosures, so we don’t need to worry,” says an MNP official. Wildlife experts are concerned about cheetah behaviour. They are frequently straying out from the KNP, which might possibly lead to human-wildlife conflict. Early this month; Oban strayed in Vijaipur village and hunted a goat. The KNP’s core area is 748 sqkm and is surrounded by a 487 sqkm buffer zone, which is dotted by 53 villages.
“Around 11 pm yesterday, the location of Oban was at Jhiri village in Shivpuri district,” says an official. “Oban started his journey towards MNP around 2 am passing through many human habitations and reaching MNP around noon on Tuesday,” said the official.
On Oban’s trail were six forest officials in two separate vehicles tracking radio-collared five-year-old Namibian Oban. India brought 20 cheetahs from Africa to be introduced into the country. It has released four of them into the wild; one cheetah died, and the rest are in enclosures.
Wildlife conservationists are worried about Oban’s health. “After travelling such a long distance, I fear it might get dehydrated, reducing its preying capacity,” says a wildlife biologist who worked at KNP. Experts say that cheetahs are grassland animals while KNP lacks grass, mostly inhabited by thick scrubs and trees. “Agriculture fields make it resemble grassland, so it likes to stray out,” says a wildlife expert.
Ventures out of Kuno for third time
It is the third time the Namibian cheetah has ventured out from KNP’s core area. Earlier, it had strayed out to Vijaypur, outside Agra Forest Range where it stayed for six days. Later, it was tranquilised and brought back to the forest.