Kuno cheetah crosses over to Raj once again

Jaipur: A cheetah from Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh has crossed over and entered Rajasthan for the second time in recent months, apparently drawn by the well-stocked hunting grounds in the Ramgarh Crater area of Baran district, near which it has remained for the past seven days, officials said. The cheetah, KP-2, had strayed into the same region in Dec last year and remained there for nearly 17 days, before it was tranquilised and relocated to Kuno.
A senior forest official said joint teams from the Baran and Kuno forest divisions are closely tracking the movements of the India-born cub. "An advisory has been issued to villagers in the area not to venture close to the animal and not to panic," the official said.Field officials monitoring KP-2 said the cheetah appears to have adapted well to the area's landscape and prey base. Experts, meanwhile, have advised against tranquilising and relocating the animal again, pointing out that it had been put under barely two months ago and that repeated tranquilisation may adversely affect its health.Wildlife enthusiast Banwari Kumar said the cheetah followed the same route into Rajasthan that it had taken during its earlier sojourn. "Forest teams should allow the animal to move on its own and avoid tranquilising it unless absolutely necessary," he said.Officials indicated that the absence of a formal framework for inter-state coordination in such cases has complicated the response. A proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for a feasibility study on the free movement of cheetahs between KNP and the wider Kuno-Gandhi Sagar cheetah landscape is yet to be signed."We obtained approval for the MoU from our government. Madhya Pradesh also secured approval and shared the draft with us. Had it been signed, studies could have commenced, the Wildlife Institute of India could have been involved, and groundwork for developing cheetah grasslands and a coordinated strategy could have begun," a senior official said.The Rajasthan Forest department placed the proposed MoU before the state board in a meeting held on June 23, but its formal approval remains pending.The larger Kuno-Gandhi Sagar cheetah landscape spans approximately 17,000 sq km, including 10,500 sq km in Madhya Pradesh and 6,500 sq km in Rajasthan. It covers several districts, such as Sheopur, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Morena, Guna, Ashoknagar, Mandsaur and Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh, and Baran, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Kota, Jhalawar and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. Adjacent districts, including Bhind and Datia in Madhya Pradesh, Dholpur in Rajasthan, and Lalitpur and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, are also considered part of the broader cheetah landscape based on previous movement patterns.Earlier, a female cheetah, Jwala, had strayed into a village in Sawai Madhopur district, before it was tranquilised and returned to Kuno. Another cheetah had crossed into Karauli district last year.The draft MoU, a copy of which is available with TOI, outlines broader objectives, including the use of the cheetah as a flagship species for restoring open forests and savanna ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity and strengthening ecological balance. It proposes that both states permit capture, recapture or release of cheetahs in emergency situations in accordance with the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and protocols laid down by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the National Tiger Conservation Authority.