Another cheetah dies at Kuno National Park, 9th death in 5 months

The deaths mark a significant setback to the Centre's cheetah reintroduction programme

Another female cheetah has died at the the Kuno national park in Madhya Pradesh today, taking the number of big cat deaths there to nine in 5 months.

The African cheetah, Dhatri (Tiblisi), was found dead at the Kuno National Park early this morning.

The exact cause of Dhatri’s death will be known after post-mortem, said the park authorities in a statement.

The park authorities said that 14 cheetahs – seven males, six females and a female cub – that are kept in bomas (enclosures) in the park are healthy and their health is being monitored by the park’s wildlife veterinarians as well as a Namibian expert.

Two female cheetahs were out in the open, of which one has been found dead today.

It may be mentioned here that 20 grown up cheetahs that had been transported from Namibia and South Africa were reintroduced to the national park in September of last year.Four cubs had been born there since then.

The deaths mark a significant setback to the Centre’s cheetah reintroduction programme, which had been flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Last month, in a span of four days last month, two male cheetahs–Tejas and Suraj had died.

An autopsy had revealed that Tejas had suffered from “traumatic shock” after a violent fight with a female cheetah and he had not been able to recover.

On March 27, Sasha, a female cheetah, died due to kidney disease, while Uday, a male cheetah, died on April 23 from cardio-pulmonary failure.

Female cheetah Daksha had succumbed to her injuries on May 9, after a violent interaction with a male during a mating attempt.

On May 25, “extreme weather conditions and dehydration” had also claimed the lives of two cheetah cubs.

On May 23, another cub had died.

As per reports, some experts have claimed that the cheetahs’ deaths were caused by subpar radio collars used on them. While the government has dismissed the accusations as “speculation and hearsay without scientific evidence. The government had denied any lapses.

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