Jaipur: A cheetah that strayed from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park has entered Rajasthan, sparking panic in Pipalda Sammel village under Madanpura panchayat in the Sultanpur area of Kota district.
Cheetah KP-2 was spotted moving through fields and residential areas on Friday, prompting villagers to remain indoors.
Farmers who first noticed the animal in their fields alerted the Forest Department and local police. Videos of the sightings have also been recorded and shared with officials.
Forest teams from Rajasthan and Kuno National Park are jointly monitoring the cheetah’s movement round-the-clock. Officials said the animal has been seen resting under trees and moving cautiously across farmland and habitation zones.
Authorities have urged residents to stay alert but not panic, stressing that cheetahs generally do not attack humans.
Officials noted that KP-2 and another cheetah, KP-3, have been repeatedly entering Rajasthan due to the proximity of Kuno National Park to the state border.
Continuous tracking is being carried out in shifts by Kuno teams in coordination with Rajasthan forest officials. KP-3 has been frequently sighted in the Mangrol range of Baran district and has been roaming the area for over three weeks.
Both KP-2 and KP-3 are around 2.5 years old and are cubs of ‘Aasha’, an African cheetah relocated to Kuno.
Experts believe their movement reflects a natural dispersal process, as young cheetahs explore new territories and establish independent ranges.
Apart from Kota and Baran, cheetah movement has also been reported in the Vijaypur region and adjoining areas of Morena district in Madhya Pradesh, indicating a wider roaming pattern near the Rajasthan border.
Earlier in mid-March, Cheetah KP-2, which strayed from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park and had been roaming in Rajasthan’s Baran for the past 45 days, entered Kota and was reportedly wandering through wheat fields.
Upon receiving the information, a team from the forest department (Territorial) began monitoring the big cat, while another team from Kuno also maintained round-the-clock surveillance. A large number of villagers gathered after the big cat entered the villages of Lakshmipura and Luhavad under the Ayana police station jurisdiction in Kota.
Subsequently, Tehsildar Vishwanath Pratap Naruka and the Station House Officer (SHO) reached the spot to disperse the crowd.
Finding a clear path, the cheetah moved out of the area. Meanwhile, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has noted the recent movement of two cheetahs that have dispersed from Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh to areas in Rajasthan, describing it as natural behaviour.
(IANS)
