BHOPAL: The cheetahs of Kuno — when they do arrive and finally prowl the wild — will face competition for prey, not only from leopards but also from game-meat hunters in surround ing villages. Hunting is banned in India but poaching is very much a painful reality. Forest officials are concerned by a possible three-way tussle — between cheetahs, leopards and predators of the two-legged variety — for cheetal, deer and other prey.
Experts have found that the settlements around Kuno have a significant percentage of people who eat meat at least once a week and several who eat meat every day. Bush meat consumption is prevalent in the region — as reported by Ranjitsinh and Y S Jhala. The cheetah action report says that people in the area own country-made guns, bows and arrows and catapults. “To enhance the natural prey population in the area, these poaching proclivities have to be controlled. Collaborations with the animal husbandry department would be made to introduce poultry farms in the area for providing easy access to meat for local people,” experts have recommended.
