According to a forest official, two additional cheetah cubs, both born in India, tragically passed away at Kuno National Park (KNP) on Thursday (25).
With these recent losses, the total number of cheetah cubs that have died at KNP in the past three days now stands at three.
One cub had already succumbed on May 23. Although the two cubs had also died on the afternoon of May 23, their deaths were officially reported only on Thursday.
The undisclosed reason for not reporting the deaths of the two cubs on the same day was not revealed by the official. It is important to note that KNP serves as a home to cheetahs that were translocated from Africa, as part of a significant initiative aimed at revitalising the cheetah population in India.
As per an official release, after the death of a cheetah cub on May 23, the monitoring team kept an eye on the movements of female cheetah Jwala and her remaining three cubs.
Jwala, earlier known as Siyaya, gave birth to four cubs in the last week of March after being translocated to the KNP from Namibia in September last year.
The monitoring team found on May 23 that the condition of the three cubs was not good and decided to rescue them for treatment. The daytime temperature then was around 46-47 degrees Celsius, the release said.
Despite treatment, the two cubs could not be saved, it said. The condition of the fourth cub was stable, but it too was under intense treatment, it said.
Cheetahs were reintroduced in India last year, 70 years after the extinction of the feline.
One of the Namibian cheetahs, Sasha, died due to a kidney-related ailment on March 27, and another cheetah, Uday, from South Africa, died on April 13. Daksha, a cheetah brought from South Africa, succumbed to the injuries following a violent interaction with a male during a mating attempt on May 9 this year.
(PTI)
Michael Gove
Jeremy Hunt