NEW DELHI: For the next one month, the eight cheetahs that were released into their respective enclosures within the Kuno National Park (KNP), would be fed “dressed buffalo meat” before they get to make their first “kills” of the abundant animals, Madhya Pradesh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Prakash Verma told TNIE. As per protocol, the cheetahs travelled from Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako international airport on empty stomachs even as they were under mild sedation.
Once they were released into their respective quarantine enclosure they did have water from the water bodies which are replenished regularly, the DFO said. “But we will feed them dressed buffalo meat on Sunday or a day later, depending on their curiosity to look for food within these quarantine areas. The meat will be pre-tested before it is served to the cheetahs.
This will be followed for a month before they are allowed into larger enclosures, each 5 sqkm in area, where they will be able to hunt chital, neel gai, wild pigs and sambhar which are in plenty,” National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) Member Secretary Dr S P Yadav said. “The big cats will be fed every two to three days, depending on the advice of the veteranarians,” he said.
Not only will the big cats be under constant observation for the first one month at their new home – trap cameras have been fixed to trees to record the animals’ movement and other behaviour – experts and researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will read and analyse the data that will be obtained from the radio collars fitted around the cheetahs’ necks.
Besides their eating habits and the manner in which they will hunt, the rigorous and intensive monitoring exercise will also involve keeping track of the animals’ excreta which, wildlife experts said, provides crucial information about their health and movement patterns.