3rd African cheetah dies in Kuno, of injuries from ‘violent mating’

20 cheetahs have been introduced in the Madhya Pradesh national park since September 2022 – eight from Namibia and 12 from South Africa.

File photo of a cheetah at the Kuno National Park | ANI

New Delhi: A third cheetah was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park Tuesday, hours after a monitoring team found it injured.

This is the third cheetah – among the 20 trans-located from Africa – to have died in the last 40 days.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Conservator of Forest J.S. Chauhan said the female cheetah, named Daksha, may have been injured due to a violent interaction during mating with two male cheetahs.

Daksha was released in an enclosure along with the males Vayu and Agni for mating, but it appears the male cheetahs turned violent during the process which is normal, Chauhan added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released eight cheetahs from Namibia on his birthday on 17 September last year under “Project Cheetah” – the world’s first such endeavor. India’s cheetahs had gone extinct in 1952.

A second batch of 12 cheetahs were introduced in Kuno on 18 February – as part of the government’s initiative to revitalise and diversify India’s wildlife and habitat.

Two cheetahs have died previously — Sasha in March, due to kidney failure, and Uday in April because of suspected heart failure. The exact cause of Uday’s death is still being investigated, the government has said.