Bhopal: One more African cheetah died in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) on Tuesday, a senior forest department official said.
The male cheetah, Tejas, was brought to KNP in Sheopur district from South Africa in February this year.
Cheetah Tejas, aged around four years, died in KNP due to suspected infighting, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Wildlife J S Chauhan told PTI. The feline, brought from South Africa as part of the ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme, was in an enclosure at the time of the incident, the official said.
Earlier in May, two cheetah cubs have died inside Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, wildlife officials said on Thursday attributing the likely cause of their deaths to the sweltering heat and weakness caused by dehydration. The cubs were among the four born on March 24 this year, inside the National Park to Cheetah Jwala, who was among the set of eight cheetahs relocated to India from Namibia last year
Earlier this week, on May 23, one of Jwala’s cubs, “the smallest and the weakest” of the litter died likely “from weakness,” according to a statement.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) J S Chouhan had told ANI that after the first cub’s death Cheetah Jwala and her remaining three cubs were under continuous monitoring by wildlife doctors posted in Palpur. Supplemental food was given to the Cheetah Jwala during the day. "The fourth cub is now fit and fine, but still underweight. The mother Cheetah Jwala is also healthy and doing well," the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest-Wildlife JS Chauhan told ANI today. Both the mother and her remaining cub continue to remain under observation, the official said.
“Today when the monitoring team visited the park, the cub looked weak, so the team called veterinary doctors and took the cub to the hospital but after five to ten minutes the cub died. The cause of death is due to immense weakness,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) J S Chouhan recounted the death of Cheetah Jwala’s third cub today. (With agency Inputs)
