Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): Female Namibian cheetah Asha, who was recently rechristened as Aasha, has escaped from Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park. On Thursday morning, she was last traced in Anandpur village in Bairad tehsil of Shivpuri.
After tracing Aasha's last location, officials of the forest department and Kuno National Park reached Shivpuri district. Officials are constantly tailing the cheetah with the help of her caller-ID. Forest officials said Aasha's last location has been traced in a mustard field between Anandpur and Ghazigarh villages. She is sitting beside the harvested mustard crops that are heaped on the side of the field, said an official.
Meanwhile, there is fear among the villagers after it was learnt that the cheetah had left the forest and entered the residential area. Aasha had escaped on 5 April, three days after a male Namibian cheetah Oban, who has now been rechristened as Pavan, escaped. Pavan was rescued and brought back to the national park after five days.
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A total of 20 cheetahs have arrived India from abroad. The first batch of eight cheetahs from Namibia reached the country in September 2022 and the next batch of 12 cheetahs came from South Africa in February. It may be mentioned here that two cheetahs died in the Kuno National Park in one month.
Among the 12 cheetahs who came from South Africa, a male cheetah named Uday, aged four to five years, died on April 24. A female Namibian cheetah, Sasha, who was brought in the first batch died due to kidney failure on March 27. Currently, there are nine cheetahs in the Kuno National Park.
