MP: Kuno cheetah strays into human habitation, forest team keeps a watch

Bhopal: A South African female cheetah, Veera, has ventured out of the core area of Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district in Madhya Pradesh.

The cheetah was last spotted by locals in Chak Sitaram and Harkui villages under Virpur forest range in the park at around 7 pm on Monday, a forest officer said on Tuesday requesting not to be quoted.

Sources said that the cheetah was spotted near Konde stream running close to the boundary of Virpur police station on Monday evening.

The feline was later spotted near the villages of Chak Sitaram and Harkui at around 7 pm on Monday, a member of the team of forest officials tracking the cheetah said.

“We are tracking the movement of the cheetah. If we find that the feline is proceeding towards Rajasthan border, then we may consider tranquilising it and then bringing it back to the core area”, the forest officer said.

Sources said the cheetah may have ventured into the Virpur forest range since the area is found to have a good prey base such as deer.

It is a natural trait of the wild cat to move across the forest to explore its territory, the forest officer said.

The cheetah, too, may be exploring its territory, he added.

When contacted, local divisional forest officer (DFO) R Thirukural said that the cheetah is very much inside KNP.

Kuno now has 21 cheetahs including eight cubs.

Namibian female cheetah Jwala gave birth to four cubs in her second litter last week.

In her first litter, delivered ten months ago, she gave birth to four cubs. However, only one cub from her first litter could survive.

Another Namibian female cheetah Aasha gave birth to three cubs earlier this month.

As many as 20 cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno for reintroduction of the species in India.

Of these 20 cheetahs, 13 have survived.