A Madhya Pradesh Forest Department driver’s gesture of providing water to five thirsty Cheetahs in sweltering heat, termed ‘heartwarming’ by many, turned costly for him, as he was reprimanded and removed from duty by his Department.

The youth, identified as Satyanarayan Gurjar, was engaged as a private driver with a Cheetah monitoring team of the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district of the state.

Advertisement

A video had surfaced on Saturday, showing Gurjar pouring water from a jerry can into a steel saucer for five Cheetahs that could be seen sitting just a few feet away from him.

The Cheetah family included female Namibian Cheetah Jwala and her four cubs. The Forest Department had recently released all five into the wild from their enclosure in the Kuno National park.

In the video, all five felines could be seen immediately walking up to Gurjar, almost like pet dogs, and drinking water from the plate. Gurjar can also be seen standing calmly next to the Cheetahs, while the felines peacefully gulp the water provided by him.

The video was shot near a village on the outskirts of the Kuno National Park.

Gurjar was the driver of the vehicle in which a forest department team was tracking the movement of the Cheetah family in the wild.

After the video went viral, a majority of viewers and people in general termed Gurjar’s act as ‘loving’ and ‘heartwarming’ and one that could be a signal towards the peaceful co-existence of Cheetahs and humans in the area.

However, Forest Department Officials took the matter in a different perspective and ordered Gurjar’s removal from the post of driver. Some sources claimed that Gurjar was suspended too, but that was not officially confirmed.

“I will not say anything on this matter right now. If we have to say something, we will inform through a press note,” KNP Director Uttam Kumar Sharma said on Sunday.

Ever since some Cheetahs have been released in the wild, the Kuno National Park officials have been urging people to stay away from the felines and let them roam about in the wild peacefully and at a safe distance.

However, when their own departmental driver went too close to the Cheetahs to offer them water, and the big cats also reacted without any fear or anger, the forest department officials had the apprehension that such behavior could pose a risk of the Cheetahs becoming too comfortable in human presence. The Officials fear that might increase the risk of Cheetahs straying into human settlements and residential areas too often, which could eventually result in increased incidents of Human-Cheetah conflicts.

According to Forest Department Officials, the Cheetahs are not a threat but a part of the region’s natural ecosystem, as the Cheetahs are not inclined to attack humans without any instigation, like leopards which are more aggressive.

Officials, nonetheless, asserted that the need is for humans to learn to co-exist with Cheetahs, but not to try and domesticate the felines.

Namibian Cheetah Jwala and her four Indian-born cubs were released into the wild on 21 February.

Presently, 17 Cheetahs are roaming freely in the wild in the Kuno National Park.The total number of Cheetahs in the Park is 26. They include 12 adult foreign cheetahs – eight from South Africa and four from Namibia, and 14 cubs born on Indian soil.

Nine out of the 26 Cheetahs are still in large enclosures inside the park.

The Cheetah was declared extinct in the country back in 1952. The country’s last Cheetah was shot dead in 1947 in the Koriya district (officially called Korea district) of present-day Chhattisgarh, which was once part of MP.

To revive their population in India under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction Project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday on 17 September 2022 had released eight Namibian Cheetahs, five females and three males, into special enclosures at the KNP.

On 18 February 2023, another set of 12 Cheetahs were brought to the KNP from South Africa.

However, 13 cheetahs have died since 2023, including eight of the adult cheetahs brought from Africa and five of their cubs born in India.