Cheetah deaths in India mar reintroduction efforts

For centuries, cheetahs roamed vast swaths of India and prowled among lions, tigers and leopards. They were declared extinct in 1952 after decades of hunting by princely rulers and British colonizers, shrinking habitats and vanishing prey.

Last year, the Indian government sought to bring cheetahs back by reintroducing the species to the country, bringing 20 in from South Africa and Namibia.

Those efforts suffered another setback this month after the death of a third cheetah in 45 days at Kuno National Park, a wildlife sanctuary in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. In the latest case, a female cheetah was killed during a violent interaction with two older males after they were put in the same enclosure for the purpose of mating.

Also Read: Female cheetah dies in MP's Kuno National Park; third death in 42 days

Another male cheetah brought from South Africa in February died of apparent heart failure last month. And a female from the Namibia group, consisting of five males and three females, died of a suspected kidney ailment in March.

The three deaths prompted justices on India’s top court to implore the federal government to consider finding an alternative place for the newly resettled cheetahs.

“Kuno is not sufficient to accommodate,” said the Supreme Court bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sanjay Karol in New Delhi on Thursday. They were referring to the wildlife sanctuary, where the authorities have kept the cheetahs since their relocation.

Also Read: SC concerned over death of cheetahs at KNP, asks Centre to consider shifting them to Rajasthan

The violent mating death of the female cheetah known as Daksha raised some concerns that the cheetahs’ confinement at the Kuno sanctuary might have contributed to the males’ aggressive behavior.

Last month, a team of experts from South Africa suggested to Kuno park officials that two males should interact with Daksha. The gates of her enclosure were opened to two older big male cats, named Agni and Vayu, with whom she was brought to India in February.

Daksha died just hours after the two badly injured her during mating attempts. Jasbir Chauhan, a top conservator of forests, said the post-mortem report suggested that her skull had been “brutally crushed” by the two males and that her back was also badly injured.