The two male cheetahs brought to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh from Namibia have made their first kill within 24 hours of their release from a quarantine zone.
Officials supervising the ‘Cheetah re-introduction project’ in the country have termed it as the first step towards resettlement of the predators in the wild.
Cheetah Project head SP Yadav said that the cheetahs —Freddie and Alton — hunted down a spotted deer either on Sunday night or in the early hours of Monday. Yadav also heads the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), an autonomous body set up to strengthen tiger conservation in the country.
This was the first hunt of the two African cheetahs since they were brought to India along with six others in mid-September.
This should allay worries that the transcontinental shifting may have dulled their prey-hunting capabilities.
“So far they have been fed in the quarantine. The independent kills by them, however, after their release in the bigger enclosure show their killing instinct. This indicates their survival instinct and criteria to become independent in the wild,” explained Yadav, adding that the wild cats are being monitored regularly.
Yadav said that the two male predators were released in a larger enclosure of 98 hectares from a quarantine zone on Saturday.
However, another forest official said that it was too early to celebrate as the "pinnacle of success" for any reintroduction, is reproduction. "If you have reproduction occurring, that means the animals have settled in. They're settled enough that they can raise young," he said.
The other six cheetahs --Savannah, Sasha, Obaan, Asha, Cibili and Saisa --remain in the quarantine zone. "We will try to release all of them in the bigger enclosures by November 15," Yadav said.
The five females and three males were brought to India as part of Project Cheetah to reintroduce the big cats in the wild, more than 70 years after it went extinct in the country.