Cheetahs from Namibia make their first kill on Indian soil

The two male cheetahs brought to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh from Namibia have made their first kill, reports quoted officials as saying.

The cheetahs - Freddie and Alton - hunted down a spotted deer either on Sunday night or in the early hours of Monday, Chief Conservator of Forest Uttam Kumar Sharma told PTI.

This was the first hunt of the two African cheetahs since they were brought to India along with six others in mid-September. And this should allay worries that the transcontinental shifting may have dulled their prey-hunting capabilities.


Freddie and Alton were released in a larger enclosure of 98 hectares from a quarantine zone on Saturday. The other six cheetahs - Savannah, Sasha, Obaan, Asha, Cibili and Saisa - remain in the quarantine zone.

The five female and three males were brought to India as part of Project Cheetah to reintroduce the big cat in the wild, more than 70 years after it went extinct in the country.

After they were brought to India, they were housed in six enclosures and fed buffalo meat. Before they are released in the wild, translocated wild animals are kept in quarantine for a month to check the spread of any infection.