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By Express News Service
BHOPAL: Yet another adult African cheetah has died inside one of the enclosures of Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP).
The adult South African cheetah named Tejas died at around 3 pm on Tuesday in an enclosure, where it was housed with a Namibian female for mating.
“Our regular monitoring team spotted the wound in the upper portion of the neck of SA cheetah at around 11 am, which was promptly informed to the veterinary specialists in the park. The vets subsequently examined the injured cheetah and found that the wound was serious. Just when the team of vets reached the spot again to tranquilize the injured cheetah and start its treatment, the cheetah was found dead in the enclosure at around 2 pm,” a senior MP forest department official told .
While the actual reason behind the cheetah’s death will be ascertained only after the autopsy is over, the wound on the neck suggests that a physical struggle with the Namibian female could have led to the fatality.
ALSO READ | ‘We take responsibility but project will be successful’: Environment minister on cheetah deaths
This is the fourth death of an adult cheetah at the KNP since the last week of March. Three of the four cheetah cubs born to a Namibian female in March also died.
In May this year, the central government had denied any lapse behind the deaths of six cheetahs (including three cubs) within two months at the KNP. A senior central government official made it clear that even if 50% of the cheetahs brought from Africa survive, the Project Cheetah will be considered successful.
“There is no lapse behind any of the cheetah deaths. Even in the case of deaths of the three cheetah cubs, global wildlife literature clearly mentions 90% infant mortality among cheetahs. We haven’t done any trials with any of the cheetahs trans-located to KNP from the two African nations. Cheetahs live in coalition, so even the mating of a female cheetah with a male coalition, (aggressive interaction led to the female’s death), wasn’t done as any trial. It was done based on documented evidence and following clearance from African experts,” CP Goyal, the director general of forests at the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, had said on May 29 in Bhopal.
Seven decades after the fastest moving mammal officially became extinct in India due to rampant hunting, eight Namibian cheetahs were introduced at KNP by PM Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday on September 17, 2022. Five months later, 12 South African cheetahs were flown to the same national park in MP’s Sheopur district in February 2023, taking the total count there to 20.
After the deaths of four adults and three cubs since March 2023, there are now 16 adults (12 in the jungles and four in enclosures) and one cub left at the KNP.
BHOPAL: Yet another adult African cheetah has died inside one of the enclosures of Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP).
The adult South African cheetah named Tejas died at around 3 pm on Tuesday in an enclosure, where it was housed with a Namibian female for mating.
“Our regular monitoring team spotted the wound in the upper portion of the neck of SA cheetah at around 11 am, which was promptly informed to the veterinary specialists in the park. The vets subsequently examined the injured cheetah and found that the wound was serious. Just when the team of vets reached the spot again to tranquilize the injured cheetah and start its treatment, the cheetah was found dead in the enclosure at around 2 pm,” a senior MP forest department official told .googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
While the actual reason behind the cheetah’s death will be ascertained only after the autopsy is over, the wound on the neck suggests that a physical struggle with the Namibian female could have led to the fatality.
ALSO READ | ‘We take responsibility but project will be successful’: Environment minister on cheetah deaths
This is the fourth death of an adult cheetah at the KNP since the last week of March. Three of the four cheetah cubs born to a Namibian female in March also died.
In May this year, the central government had denied any lapse behind the deaths of six cheetahs (including three cubs) within two months at the KNP. A senior central government official made it clear that even if 50% of the cheetahs brought from Africa survive, the Project Cheetah will be considered successful.
“There is no lapse behind any of the cheetah deaths. Even in the case of deaths of the three cheetah cubs, global wildlife literature clearly mentions 90% infant mortality among cheetahs. We haven’t done any trials with any of the cheetahs trans-located to KNP from the two African nations. Cheetahs live in coalition, so even the mating of a female cheetah with a male coalition, (aggressive interaction led to the female’s death), wasn’t done as any trial. It was done based on documented evidence and following clearance from African experts,” CP Goyal, the director general of forests at the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, had said on May 29 in Bhopal.
Seven decades after the fastest moving mammal officially became extinct in India due to rampant hunting, eight Namibian cheetahs were introduced at KNP by PM Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday on September 17, 2022. Five months later, 12 South African cheetahs were flown to the same national park in MP’s Sheopur district in February 2023, taking the total count there to 20.
After the deaths of four adults and three cubs since March 2023, there are now 16 adults (12 in the jungles and four in enclosures) and one cub left at the KNP.
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