Daksha, a cheetah who was brought from South Africa and relocated to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, has unfortunately passed away due to a fight with other cheetahs within the park.
According to sources, Daksha died in a "violent interaction" with the Phinda adult male coalition, which included Vayu and Agni and is also known as the White Walkers. This is the third cheetah to die in Kuno since the cats were brought from South Africa and Namibia.
Since last year, a total of twenty cheetahs have been introduced to the national park. Unfortunately, two of these cheetahs passed away in the months of March and April.
Sasha, a captive-bred Cheetah, died in March from a kidney disease she had had since before she was transported to India. On January 23, she displayed signs of tiredness and weakness, prompting officials to tranquillize her and transfer her to a quarantine area for treatment.
Uday, the second Cheetah, died undergoing treatment after being found sick at the national park in April.
The Union Environment Ministry announced earlier today that they plan to release a total of five cheetahs into the Kuno National Park. These five cheetahs, which consist of three females and two males, have been acclimatizing at a camp and will soon be released into their natural habitat before the arrival of monsoon season in June. The ministry also said the cheetahs will be allowed to move out of KNP and will not necessarily be “recaptured unless they venture into areas where they are in significant danger”.
As of now, a total of four cheetahs out of the eight that were brought in from Namibia have been set free from the enclosed acclimatization camps and allowed to roam freely in the open environment of Kuno National Park.
In February, India received an additional 12 cheetahs from South Africa. The second group of cheetahs arrived at the Air Force station in Gwalior and were subsequently transported to Kuno National Park.
As part of the cheetah reintroduction program, the cheetahs were flown to Gwalior from Namibia on a specialized aircraft. Later, the animals were transported to the national park via two Indian Air Force helicopters.