In 4 months, 8th cheetah found dead in Kuno | India News

BHOPAL: India’s ambitious initiative to reintroduce cheetahs into the wild faced yet another setback as cheetah Suraj was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park. The sub-adult male had injuries similar to those sustained by cheetah Tejas, which died in mysterious circumstances just three days ago.
Suraj is the eighth cheetah to die in Kuno in less than four months. The eight deaths include three of the first four cubs born in India in over 75 years. The Kuno casualty rate stands at 25%. To add to the worry, Suraj is the first cheetah to die in the wild, outside the enclosure.
The string of deaths has raised concerns about conservation efforts and what’s happening with the cheetahs behind Kuno’s fences. Experts, however, say the project is on track.
“Success is not losing more than 50% of the translocated cats during the first year. We are at 10 months and have lost 25%. So, in perspective, this project is still ahead,” Susan Yannetti, former Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) adviser, told TOI.
When Suraj’s carcass was found with injuries in the neck and back, Kuno officials, still struggling with Tejas’s unsolved death, were shocked.
The state’s chief wildlife warden, J S Chouhan, said that Suraj was first spotted “in idle position” around 6.30am but “swiftly ran away when approached”. Patrol teams set out to locate Suraj, only to find it dead a few hours later. Officers are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the cause of death.
Tejas had succumbed to “traumatic shock”. Just how, is not known. At five-and-a-half years, its weight was much below average, and the autopsy detected “compromised internal organs”. The external wounds on its back were considered superficial.
Experts involved with the project, however, say that the death of eight cheetahs cannot be called a setback. As per the action plan, the project will be deemed a “failure” only if the introduced cheetahs do not survive or fail to reproduce within a five-year period.