 "Cheetah")
Months after Namibian cheetahs were reintroduced in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, cheetah Shaurya passed away on Tuesday. The exact cause of the death is yet to be known and will be ascertained after the post-mortem. This is the tenth death among cheetahs brought from South Africa's Namibia in 2022.
"Namibian cheetah Shaurya passed away. Around 11 am, incoordination and staggering gait were observed by the tracking team, following which the animal was tranquilised and weakness was found," a statement released by the Director of the Lion Project read.
"Following this, the animal was revived, but complications arose post-resurrection, and the animal failed to respond to CPR. The cause of death can be ascertained after the post-mortem," the release added.
10 cheetahs dead so far
Female cheetah Tblisi was the ninth cheetah to pass away in August last year. Tblisi was known for making her first hunt on World Cheetah Day, December 4, 2022.
Earlier in June 2023, two male cheetahs, Tejas and Suraj, also passed away.
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Another female Cheetah, Sasha, died on March 27 due to kidney complications, followed by Uday, who died due to heart failure on April 24.
On May 9, a female Cheetah named Daksha died during a fight that broke out with a male Cheetah during mating.
Three unnamed cheetah cubs died on May 23 due to "sweltering heat and weakness."
What is Project Cheetah?
Cheetahs have been extinct in India for around 70 years. Project Cheetah is an initiative to reintroduce the species into the country.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), this is the "first intercontinental reintroduction of a wild, large carnivore species."
It was also the first time that a southern African cheetah was introduced to a foreign country.
When was Project Cheetah launched?
The Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a non-profit organisation in Namibia, was invited by the government of India to participate in a programme to reintroduce cheetahs to India.
The then Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) shared the first overview of Project Cheetah in September 2010. This outlined the current status of cheetahs around the world, the benefits and complexities of reintroducing cheetahs into India, and areas where they may be reintroduced, along with information about the task force.
In January 2020, the Supreme Court of India approved the pilot programme to reintroduce cheetahs into the country.
Subsequently, in July 2020, India and the Republic of Namibia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), where the Namibian government agreed to donate the eight felines to the programme.
How many cheetahs were introduced?
Five female and three male Southeast African cheetahs between the ages of four and six were brought to India and kept in quarantine in Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh.
On September 17, 2022, on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 72nd birthday, three of the cheetahs were released into KNP. The other cheetahs were released in phases after they had spent at least a month in quarantine to acclimatise to the new space.
A total of Rs 96 crore was allocated to the project, with Indian Oil providing an additional Rs 50 crore.
In February 2023, 12 more cheetahs were brought from South Africa to expand on the project. The MoEFCC further planned "to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years," according to a press statement released by the ministry.
