Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary Increases Prey Ahead Of African Cheetahs
Move to increase prey base in Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary begins ahead of arrival of fresh batch of African cheetahs
Bhopal: The move to increase the prey base in the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district began on Wednesday ahead of the arrival of the fresh batch of cheetahs from an African nation, expected by the end of the year.
A senior forest officer told this newspaper that around 400 blackbucks and 100 blue bulls are proposed to be translocated to the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary, the second home of the cheetahs after Kuno National Park in Sheopur district in the state, from Shajapur district in MP.
The move will boost the prey base of cheetahs in the wildlife sanctuary, the forest officer said, unwilling to be quoted.
According to him, the herbivorous animals will be herded from Shajapur district and released into the wildlife sanctuary with the employment of African technique called ‘boma’, a funnel shaped enclosure, measuring five km wide and 15 km long, through which the blackbucks and blue bulls will be released into the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary.
The herbivorous animals will be herded towards the funnel from a distance of around 20 km by flying helicopters over them, a technique used in Africa for translocation of the wild animals to the wildlife sanctuaries, sources said.
The process of mobilizing the herbivorous animals began in Kalapipal area in Shajapur district on Wednesday and it may take around three weeks to shift the animals to Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary from Shajapur district in batches, sources said.
Shajapur district has an estimated blackbuck population of 20,000 and blue bull population of 4,000.
They destroy standing crops of local farmers, triggering the demand from the farming community to the state government to end the menace.
Three cheetahs, two male and one female, have been shifted to the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary from Kuno National Park recently to develop it as the second home of cheetahs in the country.
A fresh batch of eight-ten cheetahs are expected to be translocated to the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary from an African nation by the end of this year, sources said.
Talks between the Government of India and governments of some African countries are going on in this regard, sources said.
