South African cheetah translocated to Kuno National Park dies

Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh witnessed a second cheetah fatality in less than a month as a male feline named Uday, translocated from South Africa in February, died on Sunday, officials said. The deceased cheetah was six years old. The incident is seen as a major setback for the ambitious ‘Project Cheetah’ under which 20 felines were translocated to KNP in Sheopur district from Namibia and South Africa in separate batches in September 2022 and February this year. One of the eight Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, aged more than four-and-a-half-years, died of a kidney ailment at KNP on March 27. “During the inspection in the morning, a cheetah (Uday) brought from South Africa was found dull with head down following which veterinarians attending him alerted senior officials and the feline was taken out from the large enclosure for treatment. Unfortunately, around 4 pm, the cheetah passed away,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Wildlife, J S Chauhan told PTI on Sunday. The exact cause of the feline’s death