Watch: Cheetah sneaks out of Kuno National Park, strays into 20 kms away village
The panic was triggered among the residents of Sheopur’s Jhar Baroda village after a cheetah, brought from South Africa’s Namibia, strayed into their village.
Jhar Baroda village of Vijaypur is nearly 20 kms away from the Kuno National Park, which means that the big cat, who has a tracking belt tied on its neck, sneaked out of the national park, walked 20 kms and strayed into the village.
In the video shared by news agency ANI, cheetah named Oban can be seen sitting on the ground on the other side of the fencing.
Watch here.
Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh | Cheetah Oban, one of the cheetahs brought from Namibia, entered Jhar Baroda village of Vijaypur which is 20 kms away from Kuno National Park. Monitoring team has also reached the village. Efforts are underway to bring the cheetah back: DFO
— ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) April 2, 2023
(Video… pic.twitter.com/4iQAoB6tcz
After spotting the cheetah, the villagers immediately informed the forest department. A monitoring team has reached the village, and efforts are underway to bring Oban back to the national park by tranquilizing it.
More details are awaited.
The cheetahs were translocated to India in September last year as part of the Central Government's ambitious initiative to expand the cheetah meta-population and reintroduce them to the country.
These big cats are the only carnivores that went extinct in the country due to overhunting and habitat loss.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first batch of eight cheetahs at Kuno in Madhya Pradesh on his 72nd birthday on September 17, 2022. In the second batch, 12 cheetahs were released into the national park in February last year.
Sadly, one of the cheetahs, Sasha, had died due to a kidney-related ailment last month.
Also Read: 70-Years-Long Wait Over! Watch Kuno National Park welcomes 4 adorable Cheetah cubs
First published: 2 April 2023, 16:30 IST