Missing Cheetah From MP's Sheopur District Found After 22 Days

A South African female cheetah that went missing in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district was captured on Sunday after a 22-day search operation.

Reportedly her radio collar stopped working on July 21. The cheetah, Nirva, was caught at around 10 am in Dhoret range of the Kuno National Park (KNP), after which a health check-up was conducted on her,

"An intense search for the female feline was on for the last 22 days after her radio collar stopped functioning on July 21", a release issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the Madhya Pradesh forest department said.

More than 100 field staff, including officers, veterinarians, and cheetah trackers were searching for the spotted cat day and night, it said. Besides the team on the ground, two drone teams, one dog squad, and available elephants were deployed in the search operation.

On August 12, information about the cheetah's location was received from the satellite. It gave information about her location on August 11 evening.

"A search team was immediately sent to the spot and with the help of a drone team and dog squad, a team of veterinarians was able to finally trace Nirva in the evening, but could not capture her. Nirva looked healthy and was moving, it said, adding that a decision was taken to restart the operation on Sunday morning as it was getting dark. Drone teams were given the task of keeping track of Nirva's location throughout the night.

It took nearly six hours to capture Nirva. Nirva is healthy and has been kept inside a boma (enclosure) for a further health check-up.

Since March, six of the adult cheetahs have died due to various reasons, taking the total death count of felines, including three cubs, to nine.