Eighth Cheetah Found Dead At MP's Kuno National Park In 4 Months

According to reports, the African cheetah Suraj was found dead at the Kuno National Park on Friday morning.

New Delhi: Another cheetah died at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, making it the eighth casualty in the last four months. This comes as a major setback to the 'Project Cheetah' that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year. According to reports, the African cheetah Suraj was found dead at the national park earlier today.

According to Kuno officials, the cause of the death is yet to be ascertained.

This comes a few days after another male cheetah, Tejas, was found dead at the national park on Tuesday. According to a report by news agency PTI, the post-mortem report showed that the big cat was "internally weak" and was unable to recover from a "traumatic shock" following a violent fight with another female cheetah.

The post mortem report further revealed that the cheetah weighed around 43 kilograms, which is less than the normal weight for male cheetahs. His internal body parts were also not functioning well and the chances of his turning healthy in such a situation were quite less.

"Prima facie, the cause of the death is traumatic shock," the report said, as reported by PTI.

According to reports, earlier on March 27, another female Cheetah named Sasha died due to kidney ailment. Before that, on April 23, Uday died of cardio-pulmonary failure. On May 9, female cheetah named Daksha died after a violent fight with a male cheetah during a mating attempt. Two cheetah cubs died of "extreme weather condition and dehydration" on May 25.

Meanwhile, wildlife experts have suggested more experienced veterinarians to be involved in taking care of the big cats in the wake of cheetah deaths at Kuno, reported PTI.

“Though cheetah deaths were expected in this reintroduction programme, more surprising is the fact these mortalities happened in the enclosed bomas where they were least expected. Cheetahs were expected to die after release from the safe enclosure, not within it. A female cheetah attacking and killing a male is something which has never been reported anywhere across the cheetah’s range,” Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India's (WII) former dean and senior professor YV Jhala told PTI.