Shillong, May 11: The third cheetah death since a group of wild cats were brought into India from Africa was recorded on May 7 by the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
Project Cheetah, the first transcontinental relocation initiative in Asia, has introduced twenty cheetahs to the national park. Over time, three of them passed away.
A cheetah named Daksha was killed on May 7 during a battle inside the park with other cheetahs, which may have been a territorial dispute between the animals. Two more cheetahs had already died months after being moved from Africa to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park. Sasha and Uday, who were the two, died of disease.
Some have questioned whether the ambitious Project Cheetah, which seeks to reintroduce the species that went extinct in India decades ago, is facing a major setback as a result of the deaths of the cheetahs.
Cheetahs, scientifically known as Acinonyx jubatus, are renowned for their speed and agility. Cheetahs, sometimes referred to as the world’s fastest land mammal, are a model of aerodynamic dominance and can speed from 0 to 100 km per hour in just three seconds.
The Asiatic cheetah, once considered one of the top predators, was officially declared extinct in India in 1952. The government of India wants to restore the endangered habitat and protect the species by the relocation of African cheetahs.
