New Delhi: One more cheetah was found dead at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh Wednesday, taking the total number of fatalities to nine so far.
Officials have said that a postmortem was being carried out to ascertain the cause of death of female African cheetah ‘Dhatri’ (Tiblisi).
Last month, two male cheetahs, ‘Suraj’ and ‘Tejas’, were found dead at the national park. An initial autopsy had then noted that Tejas was unable to recover from a “traumatic shock” following a fight with another female cheetah. There has been no update on the cause of Suraj’s death.
But some reports later said that the deaths could be linked to infections caused by satellite collars worn around their necks for tracking.
“Both Tejas and Suraj have similar nature of injuries. We are yet to understand why those injuries were caused. We have ruled out injuries because of violent encounters with other big cats so far. In the case of Tejas, its internal organs had degraded and we are trying to find out the cause of that and have sent the samples for further examination,” former Madhya Pradesh principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) J.S. Chauhan had told The Indian Express.
“We are looking into this aspect as well. The cheetah may have got an infection in that region because of the collar. It may have even scratched at the collar resulting in a subsequent infection,” he added.
But Chauhan was soon removed from his post, and the environment ministry dismissed any link of their deaths to radio collars as “hearsay” and “speculation”.
“Cheetah has been brought back to India after seven decades and a project of such a stature is bound to undergo ups and downs. Global experience particularly from South Africa suggests that in the initial phase of reintroduction of cheetah in African countries has resulted in more than 50 per cent mortality of introduced cheetahs,” the ministry had said.
On 9 May, female cheetah ‘Daksha’ died after a ‘violent interaction’ with a male cheetah during mating. Days later, in May, three cheetah cubs died of “extreme weather condition and dehydration”.
One 23 April, another male cheetah ‘Uday’ died after suffering from a cardio-pulmonary failure. Prior to that, on 27 March, a female cheetah named ‘Sasha’ died due to a kidney ailment.
India brought 20 adult cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa in September last year with the intent of reintroducing the animal — a development that came 70 years after the Asiatic cheetah went extinct in India.
As many as 14 cheetahs — seven males, six females and one female cub — were kept in ‘bomas’ (enclosures) at the Kuno National Park. Their health is being regularly monitored by a team of Kuno wildlife veterinarians and a Namibian expert, according to ministry officials.
One female cheetah is still out in the open and efforts are being made to bring it back to the boma for a health examination, ministry officials further said.
Also read: ‘Ecologically unsound, costly, distraction’: Conservationists slam India’s cheetah project