Bhopal: A second cheetah has died in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park after falling sick on Sunday morning, two months after it was brought to India from South Africa. Six-year-old Uday was one of 12 cheetahs flown into the country in February.
At the daily check-up, Uday appeared lethargic and was limping, a press release by the forest department said. He was tranquilised and administered the first round of treatment at 11 am after which he was taken out from the large enclosure. Uday died hours later at 4 pm.
The cause of death will be determined after the post-mortem, a senior forest official said.
18 cheetahs now remain of the 20 that were brought to India in the world’s first intercontinental translocation project that aims at reintroducing the big cats in the country.
Sasha, a five-year-old Namibian cheetah died last month due to a kidney infection. She was part of the first batch of cheetahs flown into Kuno National Park and was one of five female cheetahs flown in from Namibia last year.
The eight cheetahs brought from Namibia were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kuno National Park on the occasion of his birthday last year. The second batch of cheetahs from South Africa had seven males and five females.
The species was declared extinct from the country in 1952. Efforts to reintroduce the animals gathered pace in 2020 when the Supreme Court ruled that African cheetahs, a different subspecies, could be brought into the country at a “carefully chosen location” on an experimental basis.
According to the project, around 12-14 big cats that are ideal for establishing a new cheetah population would be imported from South Africa, Namibia and other African countries as a founder stock for five years initially and then as required by the programme.
South Africa has also signed an agreement with India to introduce dozens of African cheetahs to the Asian country over the next decade.
