Cheetah Sasha dies at Kuno National Park due to illness

New Delhi: Namibian Cheetah Sasha died due to a kidney ailment on Monday at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP), a top forest department official said.
The more than four-and-a-half-year-old female cheetah was among the eight cheetahs translocated from Namibia and housed at the KNP in Sheopur district since September 17.

Cheetah Sasha passed away due to a kidney problem as her creatinine level was very high,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF-Wildlife) JS Chauhan said.

The feline was not keeping well since her arrival more than 6 months ago and was recently taken back to a quarantine enclosure at the KNP for treatment, he said.

According to the statement, officials first found out about her ill health on January 22, when she was visibly “lethargic”. “Sasha was inspected by three veterinarians, who found that Sasha needed treatment and she was brought to the quarantine enclosure on the same day,” the statement said.

Prime Minister Modi on September 17 last year released the eight cheetahs from Namibia, in the first leg of the translocation project after a decades-long effort to restore a species that was declared extinct in 1952, owing to poaching and shrinking grasslands.

Later, 12 more were brought from South Africa on February 18.

These cheetahs are currently in quarantine, and will be released in soft predator-free Bomas soon, said the forest department.