Cheetah 'Asha' Strays Out Of Kuno National Park Again, Fourth Incident This Month

In the second such incident of April five-year-old Asha has strayed out of the Kuno National Park's boundaries. This month, a male cheetah named 'Pavan' escaped from the park twice.

ANI

New Delhi: One of the big cats translocated to India from Namibia, female cheetah 'Asha,' has wandered outside the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh again, news agency PTI quoted a forest official as saying on Friday. Asha strayed outside the park's buffer zone on Wednesday evening but appeared to be on her way back, PTI said quoting the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This is the second such incident of April where the five-year-old Asha has moved out of the park's boundaries. This month, a male cheetah named 'Pavan' escaped from the park twice. On both occasions, it was tranquillized and rough back. 

The core area of the KNP is 748 square kilometres, while the buffer zone is 487 square kilometres. Asha stepped outside the buffer zone on Wednesday evening. She moved further away but began to return on Thursday. "She is now approaching the buffer zone," according to the official. 

Asha and Pavan are part of India's ambitious efforts to revive the cheetah population in the country by translocating them from Namibia and South Africa.

Experts Flag  'Lack Of Space' At Kuno

There is a debate among wildlife experts about the amount of space required for a cheetah habitat. Some believe that an individual cheetah needs 100 square kilometres, while others say it is difficult to determine. A female cheetah may require up to 400 square kilometres. The KNP currently has 18 translocated cheetahs, two of which have died, and there are concerns that there may not be enough space for them. 

Deshdeep Saxena, a senior wildlife journalist, observed that only four of the translocated cheetahs are currently in the wild at the KNP and two have already roamed beyond its boundaries. He expressed concern about the release of an additional 14 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa and emphasized the need for an additional 4,000 square kilometres of landscape adjoining the KNP to accommodate them.

Kuno Mourns Loss Of Two Cheetahs

Kuno has seen the death of two cheetahs within a span of one month. Uday, a six-year-old cheetah who was brought to India from South Africa, died on April 23. On March 27th, Sasha, a five-year-old cheetah from Namibia who was among the eight brought to India, passed away due to kidney failure after being diagnosed with a kidney infection in January.

'Expected Such Mortality Rates': South Africa

South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) recently stated that the deaths of two cheetahs in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh are within the expected mortality rates for a project like this, news agency ANI reported. The cheetahs were among eight relocated from Namibia to Kuno National Park in September 2022 as part of an effort to expand the cheetah population and reintroduce them to their former range. The DFFE acknowledged that reintroducing large carnivores is a complex and risky operation. As the cheetahs are released into larger environments with less control over their well-being, the risks of injury and death increase. These risks have been factored into the reintroduction plan.