Drones, Dogs Help Catch Cheetah Nirva In Kuno

Officials in the Union ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFC&C)  and those  involved in cheetah  translocation in Namibia and  South Africa heaved a huge sigh of relief after Nirva, the female cheetah  missing since July 21 was captured in Kuno national park. But the operation to capture Nirva was a huge exercise and, perhaps, has no parallel in the history of wildlife conservation in India.  Spreading over 150 hours stretched in 22 days, more than 100 forest department personnel, looked out for a cheetah in a rain drenched jungle. Day in , day out ,they walked on foot, rode elephants, flew drones and deployed dogs in search of the cheetah.  Hard work and perseverance paid off and Nirva was caught and captured. “Nirva is healthy and has been kept inside boma for further health check-up”, said Aseem Shrivastava, the chief wildlife warden of Madhya Pradesh.

 Nirva in Kuno was Like Needle in Haystack

Operation Nirva began in the backdrop of  three cheetah death- Tejas, Suraj and Tbilisi or Dhatri  between July 11 and August1-  and the reason for their demise was same-  septicemia  shock because of    satellite collar abrasion and growth of maggots in the wound.  Cheetah casualties rattled the officials derailing the ambitious first ever intercontinental cheetah introduction project. Officials decided to   recapture all the cheetahs in the wild to check their collars and prevent further loss of the animals. All but Nirva were caught and brought back to enclosures. Nirva’s collar had developed some technical snag and it stopped   emitting signals. Under the thick green cover of the dry deciduous Kuno,   locating a cheetah was like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. It was still hot and humid and she still had a collar around her, however it was non functional, there were all the possibilities of abrasion and growth of maggots, the cause of the last three cheetah casualties.

Also read: Bringing African Cheetahs to India a Wrong Decision ? 

 As the officials were preparing for the worst, the search for Nirva began. All the available resources in Kuno were pooled together to launch a massive hunt   for the elusive animal. “Daily 15-20 sq km area was being searched. Along with this, villagers were informed about Nirva and any information received from them was immediately checked and verified”, said the PCCF (wildlife)  Aseem Shrivastava. There was a time when Nirva remained untraceable for over a week leading to apprehensions over her well being.

Longest Wait For Sunrise  

When the marathon exercise was underway, the thermal night vision drones with thermal   turned out to be the most useful tool.  Two such cameras were deployed. It was a challenging task to operate the flying machines in the pitch dark jungle.  Working for long during unearthly hours at a stretch, drone operators started falling sick but the operation continued when Nirva was first located by one such sortie. There was a glimmer of hope. But the animal would soon vanish in the wild the next morning.  Tracking  her pugmarks the  forest  rangers and forest guards  would follow  the trail but  in vain. Mahouts  would  further penetrate the jungle terrain where the  green soldiers on foot  could reach but they also  failed to track the spotted cat. “Unlike tigers, cheetahs don't move out at night. It has an altogether different behavior. But  during the day it moves fast. `` said a wildlife expert.  There were occasions when Nirva was located but  was away from the reach of the 30 meters  range of the tranquilizing gun.  “A tiger may let veterinarians  armed with tranquilising guns and mahouts  reach closer but a wild cheetah  won’t”, said an officer.

Also read: Not Leopards, A Different 'Predator' is Killing Kuno Cheetahs

  “ In the morning of August 12 , suddenly the location from the satellite was received providing her location of August 11 evening. Few more locations were also received on the same day”, said the PCCF (wildlife) , Shrivastava.  Drone cameras confirmed the location on August -12 night. Amidst the nocturnal sounds of jungle, the drone team   positioned themselves  at the same place ,  a dog squad was deployed and the veterinarians  were ready with their tranquilizing guns. They waited for the sunrise. And it was the longst wait . At the crack of dawn, the  whole team proceeded closer to the cheetah. One of the vets fired a dart and it was bang on target. Nirva tried to run away  but soon collapsed  only to be caught by  the  jubilant Kuno  staffers.    “Nirva, the female South African cheetah captured successfully today (13/08/2023) morning at around 10 am in Dhoret range of Kuno National Park for health check-up”, said the PCCF (wildlife) after the capture. He said all the 15 cheetahs (7 males, 7 females and 1 female cub) in Kuno National Park are now in bomas and healthy and are continuously monitored on health parameters by the Kuno veterinary team. The weather is still   hot and humid  and cheetahs  collars are  yet to be replaced. They will remain in bomas  till the monsoon is  over  and will be released at the onset of winters.

By Deshdeep Saxena

Representational Images Courtsey Dr Adrian Tordiffe