A female cheetah ‘Dhatri’ was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Wednesday morning. According to a press release, officials are conducting a post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death.
“A female cheetah, Dhatri (Tiblisi), was found dead this morning. To determine the cause of the death, a post-mortem is being conducted,” said a press note issued by authorities at the park.
This marks the ninth cheetah fatality within the past five months, casting a shadow over the park’s conservation efforts. This unsettling tally includes the loss of three cubs that were born in the Kuno National Park.
Last month, two male cheetahs had died in a span of three days. Tejas succumbed on July 11, falling victim to a “traumatic shock” inflicted by a violent encounter with a female counterpart.
Back in March, a female cheetah named Sasha succumbed to a kidney ailment on March 27, while Uday, a male cheetah, met his fate due to cardio-pulmonary failure on April 23. Another female cheetah Daksha, died after a violent interaction with a male during a mating attempt on May 9.
Even the younger generation has not been spared from this wave of tragedy. One cheetah cub passed away on May 23, while the other two cheetah cubs died on May 25 because of “extreme weather condition and dehydration”.
A government official, in May, denied any negligence behind the deaths and said: “There is no lapse behind any of the cheetah deaths. Even in the case of the deaths of the three cheetah cubs, global wildfire literature clearly mentions 90 per cent infant mortality among cheetahs.”
In September 2022, the Kuno National Park had seen the reintroduction of 20 adult cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa. Four cubs had been born there since then on the Indian soil.
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