BHOPAL: In a dramatic turn of events, the wandering cheetah Oban, now named Pawan, was tranquilized by MP forest officials on Friday as it was on the verge of crossing into UP, 100km from Kuno.
Pawan’s escapade may cost it its freedom, albeit temporarily. The cheetah has been brought back to Kuno where it will be kept in one of the larger bomas (enclosure) for a few days. Ironically, Pawan was the first to taste freedom in the Kuno wild.
Chief wildlife warden J S Chouhan said Pawan had been ‘darted’, but remained tight-lipped about the details. Sources, however, said that Pawan was found in a village bordering Jhansi in UP.
The tranquilization also followed Pawan’s killing of a calf in Sardarpur, a village on the fringes of Madhav National Park. This was the first cattle predation by a cheetah in India in over 75 years. The owner, farmer Dilbagh Singh, was given “ample compensation” and villagers were assured of their safety, said a source. “The only reason for tranquilizing Pawan was it was crossing into another state, not because it killed livestock,” said an officer.
The wandering cheetah, nicknamed ‘ghumakkad’, had strayed out of Kuno yet again earlier this week and strolled into Madhav Park, where three tigers were recently translocated. While forest officers were excited about the prospect of studying a rare encounter between cheetahs and tigers, they were also concerned about preventing the two species from crossing paths. When Pawan continued on its adventure and seemed to be on the verge of crossing into UP, the foresters took action.
Pawan’s escapade may cost it its freedom, albeit temporarily. The cheetah has been brought back to Kuno where it will be kept in one of the larger bomas (enclosure) for a few days. Ironically, Pawan was the first to taste freedom in the Kuno wild.
Chief wildlife warden J S Chouhan said Pawan had been ‘darted’, but remained tight-lipped about the details. Sources, however, said that Pawan was found in a village bordering Jhansi in UP.
The tranquilization also followed Pawan’s killing of a calf in Sardarpur, a village on the fringes of Madhav National Park. This was the first cattle predation by a cheetah in India in over 75 years. The owner, farmer Dilbagh Singh, was given “ample compensation” and villagers were assured of their safety, said a source. “The only reason for tranquilizing Pawan was it was crossing into another state, not because it killed livestock,” said an officer.
The wandering cheetah, nicknamed ‘ghumakkad’, had strayed out of Kuno yet again earlier this week and strolled into Madhav Park, where three tigers were recently translocated. While forest officers were excited about the prospect of studying a rare encounter between cheetahs and tigers, they were also concerned about preventing the two species from crossing paths. When Pawan continued on its adventure and seemed to be on the verge of crossing into UP, the foresters took action.
