‘Project cheetah’ faces another jolt, Sixth cheetah died at Kuno National Park

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious “project cheetah” suffered another jolt, as one more big cat which was translocated from South Africa died at Kuno National Park on Wednesday.

The dead feline was identified as “Dhatri”, with this a total of six cheetahs and three born have died at the national park in the last seven months.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Aseem Shrivastava said that, “The cheetah has been identified as Dhatri, who was among the two remaining female cheetahs which were still out in the wild as wildlife officials comprising Kuno veterinarians and Namibian cheetah experts tried to track them down”.

Mr Shrivastava said, “Today morning one of the female cheetahs, Dhatri, was found dead. To determine the cause of the death, a post mortem is being conducted.”

The official said the exact reason of her death is still unknown and after the autopsy report things would be cleared about her death.

The chief wildlife warden said that “all the 14 cheetahs (7 males, 6 females and 1 female cub) kept in bomas in Kuno National park are healthy and their health is being regularly monitored by the team comprising Kuno wildlife veterinarians and the Namibian expert”.

On July 14, male Cheetah Suraj died and on July 11, male Cheetah Tajas was also found dead. Both Cheetah’s had injuries to the neck and multiple organ failure.

On May 9, female cheetah Daksha, brought from South Africa, died following a “violent interaction” with two male cheetahs during mating. On March 27, a Namibian cheetah named Sasha died of kidney complications.

Six of the 20 cheetahs translocated from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno since September last have died so far due to various reasons.

In July 2022, the Government of India signed an MoU with the Republic of Namibia for cheetah conservation, resulting in the translocation of eight cheetahs from Namibia to India in September 2022.

In January 2023, an MoU was signed with the Republic of South Africa for cooperation in cheetah conservation, and a batch of 12 cheetahs (7 males, 5 females) were translocated from South Africa to India in February 2023.