India’s hopes of reviving the cheetah population has suffered a setback with one of the cheetahs, the female cheetah Sasha, found dead at Kuno National Park. It was one among the eight cheetahs that were brought from Namibia to India last year.
If reports are to go by, the five-year-old female cheetah died of kidney related ailment on March 27, and the untimely death has cast a shadow on the Centre's ambitious cheetah reintroduction project.
In an effort to save its life, a team of veterinarians led by Dr. Atul Gupta, was sent to Kuno. The experts managed to administer fluids, which reportedly improved Sasha’s conditions a bit. However, nothing much could be done in Sasha’s case as, according to the experts, chronic kidney disease is a common ailment among cheetahs.
Reports add that the authorities will likely conduct a thorough investigation to ascertain the cause of Sasha's death.
Sasha was airlifted, along with seven other cheetahs from Namibia to Kuno on September 17, 2022. The animals have been adapting well to their new home in India, under the watchful eyes of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Madhya Pradesh Forest Department staff.
Meanwhile, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has filed an application in the Supreme Court, appealing that the expert committee constituted by the apex court in 2020 to oversee introduction of African Cheetahs in India’s Kuno national park be dissolved.
