A male cheetah that strayed out of Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park last week has been rescued while it was about to cross over a forest and enter into neighbouring Uttar Pradesh's territory. An official while talking to the news agency PTI said that the cheetah has been brought back to the park. This is the second instance this month when cheetah Oban was tranquilised and brought back to the KNP after he went far away from the park.
KNP's Divisional Forest Officer Prakash Kumar Verma while talking to PTI said that after being tranquilised at Karera forest in Shivpuri district, Oban who is now known as Pavan was released in Kuno National Park's Palpur forest at around 9:30 pm on Saturday. The official added that Pavan was moving forward towards Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh when it was rescued. The big cat was spotted around 150 km away from the park.
On April 7, Pavan was rescued from the Bairad area in Shivpuri after being tranquilised and brought back to the park, officials said.
When he strayed out of the park the last time, KNP Director Uttam Sharma told PTI, "It does not pose a threat to humans, nor do humans pose a threat to it. So there is no need for tranquilisation to bring it back. A close eye is being kept on its movement."
On September 17, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight Namibian cheetahs into dedicated enclosures as part of an ambitious rehabilitation initiative to save the species. There were five females and three males.
On March 27, Sasha, one of them, passed away due to a kidney condition. Another cheetah named Siyaya gave birth to four pups.
Twelve cheetahs, seven males, and five females, were brought to the KNP from South Africa on February 18.
In 1947, the last cheetah in India died in the Koriya area of what is now Chhattisgarh, and in 1952 the species was officially declared extinct in the nation.