Ajit Karn
Asha, a female cheetah that was relocated from Namibia to India, has once again departed the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, according to a forest official.
Wednesday evening, Asha, formerly known as ‘F1’, strayed from the park’s buffer zone.
However, according to the official, Asha has now returned to the park.
The core territory of the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India, is 748 square kilometers and the buffer zone is 488 square kilometers.
“On Wednesday evening, Asha strayed from the buffer zone. She continued to move further away, but on Thursday it began to return. She is now near to the buffer zone, according to the official.
In the first two weeks of April, Asha had previously ventured outside the park’s boundaries, but had returned on her own.
Asha, unlike Pavan, another cheetah that was relocated to the park, spends little time in agricultural fields and is readily distracted by humans, according to Kuno National Park officials.
By relocating cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa, India intends to increase the cheetah population in the country.
According to some wildlife specialists, a cheetah’s habitat needs to be approximately 100 square kilometers. However, the KNP, which presently houses 18 translocated cheetahs (two of which have died), may not have enough room. Nonetheless, another forest official has noted that it is difficult to determine the precise area required by a cheetah.
According to some sources, a female cheetah requires a habitat measuring 400 square kilometers. Nobody knows precisely how much space a cheetah requires because these animals have been extinct in India for seven decades. “We are still learning about their habits,” he explained.
On September 17, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi supervised the release of the first group of eight cheetahs brought from Namibia and placed in quarantine enclosures at Kuno National Park.
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Sadly, one of the female cheetahs passed away due to a kidney condition. On February 18, a second group of twelve cheetahs from South Africa were imported and released into the park.
Unfortunately, one of the male cheetahs died of cardiopulmonary failure.
