Early Tuesday morning ( August 12) , the sleepy village of Karira in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district found itself at the centre of an unusual wildlife drama. Nestled in the buffer zone of Ranthambhore National Park, the village is used to the occasional leopard sighting or tiger rumor, but this time the visitor was an animal none of the villagers had ever seen up close — a cheetah. And not just any cheetah. This was Jwala, a radio-collared female brought from Namibia in 2022 and currently part of India’s ambitious cheetah introduction project at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Somehow, she had strayed nearly 180 kilometres from her designated home and ended up in the heart of rural Rajasthan. Cheetah in the Village The first hints of trouble came at dawn, when villagers awoke to find goats bleating unusually as if sounding alert .The villagers were terrified after they spotted an animal — much slimmer than a leopard, with tear-like markings down its face — had been seen in ...
Amidst controversy created by the death of cheetahs both in India and South Africa, the forestry and environment ministry of the African nation said the 11 remaining cheetahs will be released in the free ranging conditions “over the next two months.” Interestingly, there is no commitment on cheetah release from Indian officials. Two cheetahs died in Kuno national park – one each from South Africa and Namibia. After the death of Uday, the South African cheetah, the main opposition party has also questioned the minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, on the export of 12 cheetahs to India. Two MPs from the the opposition Democratic Alliance Hannah Shameema Winckler and Dave Bryant have sought explanation from the minister and accountability for the cheetah death. This has happened two months after lawyers of an animals' rights organisation in South Africa petitioned...