The 12 cheetahs brought from South Africa to the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh two days ago have been served their first meal in their new home, an official said on Monday, February 20. The seven male and five female felines, brought as part of the Indian government’s ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme, were served 65 to 70 kg of buffalo meat at around 5.30 pm on Sunday in the 10 quarantine bomas and they ate it all, KNP Divisional Forest Officer PK Verma told PTI.
Before being brought to India, they were fed at around 6 am on February 15 at the bomas in Rooiberg and Phinda Reserves in South Africa, officials said. The 12 cheetahs will be kept in the quarantine enclosures for at least a month before they are moved into the acclimatisation enclosures. A decision on this will be taken by the task force on cheetahs, they said.
According to experts, the cheetahs go in for the kill once every three to four days. They eat the prey fast at one go, fearing other predators like leopards might snatch it. On the other side, a tiger eats its prey patiently and leaves it for another day, they said.
The second batch of 12 cheetahs arrived at KNP from South Africa on Saturday. On September 17 last year, the first group of eight cheetahs from Namibia was released into KNP at a function by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the arrival of the new batch, the cheetahs in KNP include 10 males and as many females.
Their inter-continental translocation is part of the Indian government’s programme to reintroduce cheetahs in the country seven decades after they became extinct. The country’s last cheetah died in Koriya district of present day Chhattisgarh in 1947 and the species was declared extinct in 1952.
KNP is situated on the northern side of the Vidhyachal mountains and is spread across more than 700 square km.