MP: Female cheetah that went untraceable in KNP due to radio collar issue captured after 22 days

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district since her radio collar stopped working on July 21, was captured on Sunday after a 22-day search operation, officials said. The cheetah, Nirva, was caught at around 10 am in Dhoret range of the Kuno National Park (KNP), after which a health check-up was conducted on her, they said. An intense search for the female feline was on for the last 22 days after her radio collar stopped functioning on July 21, a release issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the Madhya Pradesh forest department said. More than 100 field staff, including officers, veterinarians and cheetah trackers were searching for the spotted cat day and night, it said. Besides the team on ground, two drone teams, one dog squad and available elephants were deployed in the search operation. An area of 15-20 square kilometres was being searched, it said. In addition to this, local villagers were informed about Nirva and any information received about the feline from villagers was being checked and verified immediately, the release said. On August 12, information about the cheetah's location was received from the satellite. It gave information about her location on August 11 evening, it stated.

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«A search team was immediately sent to the spot and with the help of a drone team and dog squad, a team of veterinarians was able to trace Nirva in the evening finally, but could not capture her,» it said. Nirva looked healthy and was moving, it said, adding that a decision was taken to restart the operation on Sunday morning as it was getting dark. Drone teams were given the task of keeping track of Nirva's