Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A day after the elusive South African female Cheetah Nirva, was caught successfully, a section of forest officials of Kuno National Park on Monday headed to temples thanking almighty and offering special poojan for the safe return of the feline.
The Kuno officials and staffers, who were on toes for more than 20 days looking for the missing cheetah, had taken vow to offer special prayers the day the Cheetah Nirva was found alive. Nirva could not be traded for at least 22 days as her radio collar had stopped functioning.
A senior officer of Kuno National Park, pleading anonymity, told Free Press that as there was no clue of Nirva for almost three weeks, there were apprehensions regarding her survival. The officials and their teams had pledged to offer spiral prayers at the temple if the big cat was found live.
“ Today (Monday) ,the forest officials performed special poojan at three temples of Kuno to thank the almighty for ensuring the safe return of Nirva. We have been on toes for days in the bid to locate Nirva. Even at 3 am we would go inside the jungles looking for cheetahs as the entire country was patiently waiting for the success of Operation Nirva.” It was a troublesome time for us as we remained away from family for days, said the officer.
Nirva undergoing medical checkup
Nirva, currently housed in an enclosure, is undergoing medical examination. The veterinary doctors are doing a check up of all fifteen cheetah’s including Nirva twice a day as per the health check up protocol under Cheetah project.
Over 15 ft tower has been installed near the enclosures of the cheetahs. A forest staffer on the tower keeps a close watch on the cheetahs. He has to report every hour about the activities of the cheetah. Notably, all the free ranging cheetahs were captured and put in the enclosures following the death of two cheetahs in a short duration .
