New Delhi: When Oban, fondly known as Pavan, was brought to India on 17 September 2022, he was just over four-years-old. After nearly two years on Indian soil, the adult cheetah was found dead near a nalla on 27 August.
Pavan was an agile cheetah, who had a penchant for wandering. He was one of the first cheetahs to be released into the wild after the mandatory quarantine and enclosure period, on 11 March 2023. And according to the officials in Kuno, he never looked back.
Forest rangers at Kuno recall sleepless nights spent chasing Pavan across Madhya Pradesh, sometimes towards UP and once even to Rajasthan.
“He had a particular liking for the East, and would always travel that way. He left Kuno’s boundaries within four days of his release. No matter how many times we brought him back, he would always set off again,” said a cheetah tracker who did not wish to be named.
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However, trackers and officials alike agreed that he was a confident cheetah, yet highly adaptable.
Official communications from the Kuno forest department refer to Pavan’s love for attention—when he was in the soft boma enclosure, he would often strut up towards the monitoring team whenever they came for his regular check ups. He was placed in an enclosure with Aasha and Dhatri when he arrived initially in September. A forest official recalled that rather than being dominating, Pavan “ended up being bullied often by both”.
One of eight Namibian cheetahs brought to Kuno National Park under the Cheetah Reintroduction Project, he was the 13th cheetah and 8th adult fatality in Kuno since the beginning of the Cheetah Project in 2022.
Before him, the only other adult cheetah fatality this year was Shaurya on 16 January.
Pavan’s death Tuesday was also a blow to Project Cheetah since he was the only free-ranging cheetah. The other 24 cheetahs, including 12 cubs, are in enclosures in the park.
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‘Ekdum mast banda’
Former divisional forest officer of Kuno, Prakash Verma, recalled how Pavan was seen as a ‘gentleman’. His three loves, according to forest department newsletters, were food, attention and travel.
In a newsletter published by the Kuno National Park’s Forest Department last year, officials recounted how one day during monsoon 2023, they noticed flies hovering around Pavan’s neck.
This was the difficult period when a couple of cheetahs had died successively due to macerations on their neck and the entire forest department was on the lookout for signs of similar infections on other cheetahs.
“Pavan is a special cheetah for all. Amongst all cheetahs, he was the most loved and popular cheetah, and so upon hearing about the flies around his neck, the whole team immediately rushed to where he was,” reads the newsletter from September 2023.
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Springing into action, the veterinarians were able to save Pavan and treat his infection in time.
Earlier reports in the media have talked about Pavan’s travels into agricultural fields and other national parks including the Madhav National Park where he would survive with ease by preying on black bucks and other prey.
Verma also said that Pavan was aware of his surroundings and would usually wait until nightfall when traffic and human activity reduced to begin his travels.
As another forest official put it: “Ekdum mast banda tha woh.” (He was an amazing guy!)
Pavan is survived by the two litters he fathered with Asha and Jwala, with seven cubs in total.