BHOPAL: It has been two days since the Cheetah Oban, one of the four released in the wild at Kuno sneaked out of the protected area of the National Park.
The Project Cheetah team is still trying to drive Oban back by making a human wall and using vehicles to build a corridor. Forest officials say Oban had been testing the boundaries of Kuno Park since its release in the wild. Experts say- it will be tranquilized if it ventures too far from Kuno.
“Cheetahs are not aggressive, like lions and leopards. In fact, they are quite timid and have a flight instinct. They are more scared of people than the other way around,” said a cheetah expert, adding that they are not known to attack humans.
Videos of the South African feline merrying out went viral. He was seen walking through a famrland seemed like he felt the Havana vibes and dran water from a river. Human are so far coordinating with the forest officers abiding to their orders and helping them with information if spotted.
According to Eli Walker, conservation biologist and cheetah specialist with Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), mentioned that Cheetah after being released into a new environment are bound to show extra movements in order to explore their new habitat. Adding that this situation is not unexpected, Walker said,”We hope that with enough time, these animals will establish home ranges within Kuno and rarely venture out into human dominated landscapes. Until then, India’s dedicated cheetah monitoring teams, which CCF has helped train since last September, will keep a close watch over any animals that do venture out.”