Jaipur: An African cheetah from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park has been sighted venturing into the Ramgarh crater in Rajasthan’s Baran for the last nine days, said officials.
The deputy conservator of forest (DFO) in Rajasthan’s Baran, Bade Vivekanand Manikrao, said, “The African cheetah, identified as KP-2, from Kuno National Park entered Ramgarh area of Baran’s Kishanganj on November 27 by crossing the Parvati river at the border of MP’s Sheopur. For the last nine days, it has been venturing into the Ramgarh crater area.”
He further added: “Its movement has majorly been traced at 10 to 15 square kilometres at the Ramgarh crater area where it has also hunted a nilgai, a calf, and a goat in the last nine days.
“After entering Rajasthan, it also returned to Kuno on Wednesday and stayed till Thursday at 10 kilometres deep in the forest there. However, the cheetah has been sighted in Ramgarh crater since Friday morning,” said Manikrao.
The local villagers on Friday also reported to the forest officials about the cheetah’s movement at some hills at the crater area.
Ramgarh crater is a meteor impact crater of 3.5 kilometres diameter in Kota plateau of Vindhya range located adjacent to Ramgarh village in Baran district in Rajasthan.
Confirming the development, a senior official from the Kuno National Park said that the teams from both Kuno and Kishanganj forest areas are currently keeping a watch of the cheetah in the crater.
“The cheetah is safe. Our teams are following it constantly at a distance of 100 metres to 200 metres. We are also tracking its movement through the radio collar installed on its neck. The Kuno’s team has about nine members including a doctor and some medical staff while the Kishanganj team has five more members,” said the officer.
He further added that the officials do not have any plan to tranquilise it at the moment while they have also issued an alert to the local villagers.
Forest officials said that it is the third time in the last two years when a cheetah from Kuno National Park entered Rajasthan. In December, 2023, another cheetah, Agni, was sighted venturing into the Ramgarh crater area following which authorities tranquilised it and brought it back to Kuno a day after.
Three months later, in March, 2024 , another cheetah was sighted roaming around the Ramgarh area, which returned to Kuno three days later, said the officials.