The authorities are, however, waiting to see how the 2 will deal with leopards and hyenas that are present in abundance in Kuno
The other cheetahs from Namibia will also be released into the wild soon in a phased manner. Representative photo: iStock. Two cheetahs — Oban and Asha — who were released into the wild in Kuno National Park (KNP) have made their first kill. The two have each hunted two chitals (spotted deer) individually within 24 hours of their releases, making the park authorities hopeful.
Prakash Verma, divisional forest officer, KNP, told Down To Earth:
We are happy to see that they have already started hunting. They are moving separately in the wild and have gone six to seven kilometres into the jungle so far. We are tacking them with the help of radio collars so that they don’t wander into uncharted territories.
The authorities are, however, waiting to see how the two will deal with leopards and hyenas that are present in abundance in the national park. Still, they are fairly confident that the three predators will be able to co-exist and not face conflicts.
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“There were other predators like leopards and spotted hyenas in Namibia too and these animals know how to navigate their ways and avoid conflicts. They have different niches so generally they don’t have run-ins. But the cheetahs will come face to face with the two competing predators at some point, it is unavoidable,” added Verma.
The two cheetahs are, however, not mating as speculated by many.
The decision to release the two cheetahs was taken by the Cheetah Task Force (CTF) after consulting the veterinarians, the ground staff and experts of the Cheetah Conservation fund. The other cheetahs from Namibia will also be released into the wild soon in a phased manner, on CTF’s recommendation.
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As per the Cheetah Action Plan, the cheetahs, after completing one month of quarantine, were supposed to be kept in the bigger enclosure for a month and were to be released into the wild much sooner. The males were supposed to be released first. But the plan was delayed and the first two cheetahs were only released in the wild on March 11, 2023.
Verma told DTE:
It was necessary for us to ensure that these cheetahs had adapted well to the new environment and they were all in good health before taking the decision to release these two. Besides, some villagers set up snare traps to catch small herbivores and we had forest rangers and field staff looking for these traps and removing them to ensure no cheetahs get caught in them once released, which also caused a delay.
The captive-born cheetahs will be released last as they need more time to adapt to the wild, he said.
The 12 cheetahs from South Africa are in quarantine and will be released into the five square kilometre enclosure only after they complete 30 days of quarantine. Since they are all wild-born, they will likely be released into the wild much sooner than the Namibian ones.
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