Bhopal, 14 July (Hindustan Times). The process of death of cheetahs brought from South Africa and Namibia in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district is not taking the name of stopping. Another leopard died here. Suraj, a male cheetah brought from South Africa, was found dead in the forest of Kuno on Friday morning. It was released into the wild from Kuno’s large enclosure on June 25. A total of eight cheetahs have died in Kuno in the last four months since March, while another cheetah has died here in four days.
State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests JS Chauhan has confirmed Suraj’s death. He told that Suraj, the male cheetah brought from South Africa was found dead in Kuno National Park. On Friday, the male cheetah ‘Suraj’ was found lying lethargic by the cheetah monitoring team at 6.30 am in the Masavani beat of Palpur East Zone. A fly was seen flying around the cheetah’s neck, on approaching it the cheetah got up and ran away. The monitoring team immediately informed the control room at Palpur wirelessly about the condition of Cheetah ‘Suraj’. Wildlife medical team and regional officers reached the spot around 9.00 am. On tracing the location, Cheetah Suraj was found dead on the spot. Initial investigation found the cause of death to be wounds on the neck and back of Cheetah Suraj. The detailed report of the cause of death will be clear after the autopsy by a team of wildlife doctors.
After getting the news of Suraj’s death, there has been a stir among the forest department officials. Earlier this week, on Tuesday last, male cheetah Tejas had died in Kuno. His post-mortem report revealed that he had become internally weak. The female cheetah had not recovered after the violent fight. Due to which he lost his life.
Here, it has been learned from the sources that there was a violent clash between Tejas and Suraj Cheetah recently. In which Tejas had a deep wound on his neck. After this, he died on Tuesday. At the same time, Suraj was also seriously injured in this struggle. Whose body was found on Friday. Apart from this, a cheetah named Agni is also injured, he has a fracture in his leg.
Significantly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released eight cheetahs from Namibia at Kuno National Park on his birthday on 17 September 2022. On February 18 this year, 12 more cheetahs from South Africa were released in Kuno. That means a total of 20 leopards were brought. Of these, four-year-old female cheetah Sasha died of kidney infection on 26 March 2023. After this the number of cheetahs decreased to 19. After this, the female cheetah Jwala brought from Namibia gave birth to four cubs on 27 March 2023. With this, the number of cheetahs including cubs in Kuno has gone up to 23.
Then, on 23 April 2023, Cheetah Uday brought from South Africa died. The short post-mortem report stated the cause of his death as cardiac artery failure. After this, on May 9, 2023, the female cheetah Daksha, brought from South Africa, died. Then, on 23 May 2023, one of Jwala’s cubs died. Then on 25 May 2023, two more cubs of Jwala also died. After this, just three days ago on July 11, Cheetah Tejas died. There was a wound on his neck, seeing which it is being speculated that Tejas lost his life in a mutual struggle between cheetahs. Now Suraj is also found dead. In this way, eight cheetahs including three cubs have died in Kuno in the last four months. Now there are 15 leopards and one cub left here.
