A medical examination revealed that she was dehydrated and had kidney related problems. (Document)
Madhya Pradesh:
One of eight cheetahs shipped to India from Namibia died on Monday after contracting a kidney infection in January. Sasha showed signs of fatigue and weakness during her daily follow-up check and medical examination revealed she was dehydrated and had kidney related problems.
Blood tests showed her creatinine levels were very high, which indicates an infection in her kidneys. A press release said the other cheetahs in the park were healthy.
Sasha, part of the first cheetah flight into Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, was one of five female cheetahs that flew from Namibia last year as part of an ambitious reintroduction program.
The cheetah was one of two five-year-old big cats released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kuno on September 17, which was also his birthday last year.
Last week, two other cheetahs, Elton and Freddie, were released into the wild in Madhya Pradesh. Along with that, four of the eight jaguars brought back from Namibia were released into the wild in a park in Sheopur district.
Eight Namibian cheetahs – five females and three males – were brought to the KNP as part of a reintroduction program aimed at reviving populations of the species in India, where they became extinct more than 70 years ago. They were first moved to a climate-adapted area from quarantine bomas (animal areas) last November.
They are then released into the park’s hunting grounds.
More than a dozen cheetahs – seven males and five females – were brought to the KNP from South Africa on 18 February this year. KNP is currently home to 20 cheetahs. South Africa has also signed an agreement with India to introduce dozens of species of African jaguars to the Asian country over the next decade.
The world’s first intercontinental displacement project aims to reintroduce large domestic cats.
