Namibian cheetah Shaurya dies at MP's Kuno National Park; 10 deaths so far

In a fresh setback to the ambitious 'Project Cheetah', Shaurya, a Namibian cheetah at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, passed away on Tuesday.

The death of the big cat was reported at 3.17 pm on Tuesday, officials said.

According to an official release by the additional chief conservator of forest and the director of the Lion Project at Kuno, a tracking team noted signs of incoordination and a staggering gait in Shaurya around 11 am on Tuesday, prompting an immediate medical intervention.

"After observing these signs, the cheetah was tranquillised and a weakness was determined during a medical examination. Despite reviving the cheetah through medical intervention, it developed some post-revival complications that eventually resulted in its demise. The animal failed to respond to CPR efforts," the APCCF and the director of Lion Project was quoted as saying in the statement.

There is no word yet on the exact cause of death and it will be determined after the completion of the post-mortem examination.

On September 17, 2022, the first batch of eight Namibian cheetahs was released in Kuno National Park (KNP) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birth anniversary.

The cheetahs were translocated from Namibia and South Africa as part of a project aimed at reintroducing the big cats, which were extinct in India for several decades.

In the second batch, 12 cheetahs were brought from South Africa. However, of the 20 cheetahs translocated to India in two batches, 8 perished.

Subsequently, 12 cheetahs were brought from South Africa and released in Kuno in February, last year.

The translocation was implemented under the supervision of an expert team consisting of government officials, scientists, wildlife biologists and veterinarians from Namibia, South Africa and India, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed earlier.