Around six months after she was translocated to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) from Namibia, a female cheetah named Sasha died on Monday, 27 March, due to a kidney ailment, a top forest department official said.
The death of the four-and-a-half-year-old animal is a setback to Project Cheetah, which was initiated to revive the population of the world's fastest land animal in India, 70 years after they became extinct.
In September 2022, eight cheetahs, including Sasha, had been brought from Namibia and were housed in KNP, located in the state's Sheopur district.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF-Wildlife) JS Chauhan said that Sasha passed away due to a kidney ailment which she was suffering from even before she was translocated from Namibia.
"A monitoring team found Sasha lazy on 22 March, following which they decided to take her to a quarantine enclosure for treatment," he told news agency PTI.
The animal's blood sample was collected and examined on the same day. Chauhan said that a wildlife expert went inside the KNP with a portable ultrasound machine to examine Sasha, following which it was found that her kidneys were infected.
The forest official added that Namibian wildlife experts and KNP veterinary doctors worked day and night to cure the cheetah, but she did not survive.
The remaining seven cheetahs are doing well, he added. Among them, three males and a female were released in the park's open forest area. They are "totally healthy, active and hunting in a normal manner," a statement from the KNP said.
The eight cheetahs were released into their enclosures at the KNP on 17 September last year during a grand event which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
(With inputs from PTI.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)