One of 8 cheetahs brought from Namibia dies at MP’s Kuno National Park  

One of eight cheetahs brought from Namibia died on Monday at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP). According to a forest department official, Sasha died of a kidney ailment. The more than four-and-a-half years old female cheetah was among the eight cheetahs translocated from Namibia in September last year.

“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 told the news agency. Sasha 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, the official said. Sasha’s creatinine level was above 400 (an indicator of poor kidney function) which resulted in her death, he added.

On September 17, which was his birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight cheetahs – five females and three males – into the KNP. Cheetahs were relocated as part of a project to resurrect their population in India, where they became extinct more than 70 years ago.

Upon arrival, cheetahs were kept in hunting enclosures at the park before their full release into the wild. So far, four of these eight cheetahs have been released into the wild. On March 11, two cheetahs – Oban and Asha – were released into the wild, almost six months after they were brought to the KNP. Two more – Elton and Freddie – were released on March 22. After their release, Sheopur’s divisional forest officer (DFO) P K Verma said, “They were healthy and were doing well.”