Villagers in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district attacked a female cheetah and her four cubs when they pounced on a calf. Videos of the incident are doing the rounds on the internet.
The villagers started pelting stones when the cheetahs pounced on a calf. They wanted to shoo away the cheetahs who wandered outside the Kuno National Park. The female cheetah, Jwala, and her four cubs were released into the wild in February this year.
The forest officials intervened and tried to stop the villagers and ensure the cats were safe. The cheetahs were seen roaming near Sheopur-Gwalior railway line. They spotted a herd of calves and tried to hunt one of them.
A large number of villagers turned up to watch the cheetahs when they tried to kill the calf. The villagers also used batons to drive the cheetahs away from the calf. The incident raised questions over the safety of villagers and their livestock. The cheetahs were brought from Namibia and South Africa.
