In Telangana, Cheetah Strays Into A Village. Injures Goats And Calves

Locals in the Gangaram village, Bijinapalle mandal of Mahbubnagar district in Telangana are scared for their lives. According to Local 18 Telangana, a cheetah has entered the village and has injured the goats and calves in the Gangaram village and bordering areas. These attacks on the animals have caused panic amongst the Gangaram village natives.

The Gangaram forest is spread in the vicinity of the village. There is an abundant number of deer in the forest. Some natives have alleged that people have chopped trees in the Gangaram forest. Due to this practice, the cheetah’s natural habitat has been disturbed and as per the villagers, these animals are now coming to the nearest village suburbs. Suburbs are the districts lying immediately outside a city or town, especially a smaller residential community. Due to this entering of the cheetah, the farmers are not feeling courageous enough to go to the agricultural fields.

Forest Range Officer Farvez Ahmed has cautioned the villagers to be vigilant as the cheetahs are searching for food. Farvez has also advised the villagers to not go into the forest to graze cattle and also not harm the forest animals. He said that people should not panic and all measures are being taken by the forest department. Also, the forest department has suggested that the villagers cooperate in animal protection. Meanwhile, according to them, they should take due care for the movement of cheetahs. The people should come out at night in groups.

As per the reports, in 2023, one of the Namibian cheetahs had entered a village in Vijaypur Tehsil of Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district. It is about 20 kilometres from the Kuno National Park. The District Forest Officer (DFO) said that the cheetah, Oban, entered the Jhar Baroda village, following which a monitoring team was sent. The DFO added that efforts were underway to bring the cheetah back to the Kuno National Park. The locals had shared the visuals of the cheetah in bushes in the village.

Eight cheetahs- five females and three males- were translocated to India from Namibia on September 17, 2022, under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction programme of the Modi government.