Three of 20 cheetahs moved to Kuno National Park in the initial phase of a plan to revive the species have died in a span of 40 days.
Another cheetah translocated to India from Africa has died in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, reported news agency PTI on Tuesday, recording the third fatality in around 40 days. The cause of death of the female Cheetah, named Daksha, is not known yet. Daksha, brought to India from South Africa, died days after a six-year-old cheetah, ‘Uday’, died of heart attack, according to a post-mortem report.
A total of 20 cheetahs were moved to Kuno National Park in September and February in the initial phase of a plan to revive the species that disappeared from the country 70 years ago. The deaths have raised concern about the effort that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has championed, but the government has maintained that the rest were doing well.
“The other cheetahs have been closely monitored and none of them has shown any similar symptoms,” the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a statement on Monday.