MP: Female cheetah translocated from SA dies in KNP; third fatality in 42 days

The Kuno National Park KNP in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday witnessed a third cheetah fatality in 42 days, with the death of female feline Daksha who was translocated from South Africa in February.Prima facie, Daksha might have been injured during a fight between two male cheetahs over mating, a forest official said.

The Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday witnessed a third cheetah fatality in 42 days, with the death of female feline 'Daksha' who was translocated from South Africa in February.

Prima facie, Daksha might have been injured during a fight between two male cheetahs over mating, a forest official said. Daksha, translocated along with 11 cheetahs, became the third cheetah to die in KNP. Earlier, felines 'Sasha', a female, and 'Uday', a male, died on March 27 and April 23, respectively. ''Daksha was found in injured condition in the morning by a monitoring team of KNP. She was immediately given necessary medication and treatment but she died around noon,'' JS Chouhan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) said. He said Daksha was released in enclosure number one and two male cheetahs, Vayu and Agni, were released in boma (enclosure) number 7.

The gate connecting enclosure number one with enclosure number seven was opened on May 1 for the mating of cheetahs, the official added. ''This step (opening the gate) for mating of cheetahs was taken as per the decision taken during a meeting, attended by NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority), Wildlife Institute of India, and experts from South Africa, held on April 30 at KNP,'' Chouhan said. He said cheetahs Agni and Vayu entered enclosure number 7 on May 6.

''It appears the two male cheetahs turned violent during mating which is a normal thing. Such a scenario makes it difficult for the monitoring team to interfere. The nature of injuries of Daksha prima facie indicate a violent interaction possibly during mating,'' the forest official said. Under the ambitious Cheetah reintroduction programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the first batch of eight spotted felines -- five females and three males -- from Namibia into a quarantine enclosure at Kuno on his 72nd birthday on September 17 last year. A cheetah, named Siyaya, recently gave birth to four cubs. Notably, the Union Environment Ministry on Monday said five cheetahs -- three females and two males -- will be released from the acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions in KNP before the onset of the monsoon in June.

On the death of the two cheetahs, the ministry said chronic renal failure is a common problem in captive cheetahs and many other captive feline species, but is not infectious and cannot be transmitted from one animal to another.

The last cheetah died in India in Koriya district in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.