Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh forest officials have asked their counterparts in Madhya Pradesh to share inputs from the radio collars attached to the two cheetahs who were reportedly moving towards Lalitpur on Wednesday.
The two cheetahs, who strayed out from the Kuno National Park (KNP), are now reportedly returning to the terrains of Madhya Pradesh.
"Our staff have been asked to stay alert. Though the latest input stated the cheetahs are reverting, the alert status will remain in place until it is certain that the two large cats are returning to MP," said Mamata Sanjeev Dubey, the chief of the forest force who is also heading the UP forest department.
As the news of the cheetahs moving towards UP broke, a virtual meeting of forest officials from several states was held.
The UP officials reportedly sought the GPS and radio collar inputs to track the animals' inputs. For now, however, the department has been directed to only track and monitor the cheetahs if they cross into the UP side. Any further decision regarding the matter will be taken by the Cheetah Project Steering Committee. Officials also said UP does not have a cheetah-friendly terrain as the animal needs large grassland to prey and the place they are heading to has a forest.
"Feral dogs also pose a threat to the cheetahs," a senior forest official said. Cheetah reintroduction in India is an attempt to introduce a small population of Southeast African cheetahs in India, more than 70 years after the native sub-species became extinct here.
It may be noted that this was the second time when cheetahs strayed out of KNP.
Earlier, a male cheetah, named Oban/Pawan, was tranquilised, and brought back to the park when it was about to cross over to a forest in Uttar Pradesh. —IANS
