On Sunday night, Elton and Freddie, the two cheetahs brought from Namibia made their first kill in the Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh. As per the officials, this has been a great achievement as it marks their success towards their translocation and hunt on Indian soil. Within 24 hours of being released into a wild enclosure from quarantine, the pair found its first prey, a deer or a cheetal. It was around 6 pm on Sunday that the male siblings who were the first ones to be released hunted down prey.
The eight cheetahs were brought to India from Namibia and were released on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17. Prime Minister Modi on Twitter said, “Great news! I Am told that after the mandatory quarantine, 2 cheetahs have been released to a bigger enclosure for further adaptation to the Kuno habitat. Others will be released soon. I’m also glad to know that all cheetahs are healthy, active, and adjusting well.”
According to the sources, the two sibling cheetah pair first hunted a blackbuck which turned out to be a failure within an hour of their release. On Sunday evening the officials heard some noises of Cheetahs from the ‘Boma 4’, the largest enclosure of the national park indicating hints of their hunt. When a monitoring team was sent to inspect the area on Monday, they found a large male cheetah's carcass.
The eight cheetahs have traveled a long journey from- Namibia, flying high over 8,000 km of the Indian Ocean and reaching Kuno, an unfamiliar and new home and environment. It is for the first time that a carnivore has been relocated from one continent to another. After being kept in quarantine for all these days they were fed buffalo meat. The first kill of Freddie and Elton proves that they are in good shape and the relocations seem to progress.
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