Posing major setback to the India’s cheetah reintroduction programme, another African cheetah named as Suraj was found dead at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Friday. This is the eighth casualty of spotted cat in last four months. The cat was found in a fainted condition in Masawani beat of Palpur forest circle at 6:30 am on Friday. When team went closer to the cat, they saw that flies and insects were hovering over his neck and then he jumped off and ran away. Field staff informed about the condition of cheetah to monitoring team via wireless control room. Veterinary doctors and field officers reached to the spot at 9 am. The team traced location of Suraj where he was found dead.

Autopsy suggested that Suraj has deep wounds on his neck and back. Samples have been sent to the laboratory for further testing. Officials said that they are trying to get to the reason of death. Three days back, on Tuesday, another cheetah Tejas was found dead near his enclosure.

 

J S Chauhan, Chief Wildlife Warden, said, “This is for the first time that a cheetah died in a free range. There were injury marks on his back and neck. Reason behind the death would be revealed with the post-mortem report.” Three days back, cheetah Tejas had died in the park. Tejas post-mortem report revealed that he was unable to recover from the severe trauma after the fight with female cheetah. The demise of Suraj poses threat to Cheetah Project launched by the Prime Minister last year. Death of cheetah in Kuno National Park started on March 27 when female cheetah Sasha was found dead due to kidney failure and again on April 23, cheetah Uday died of cardio attack. On May 9, female cheetah Daksha died after mating with male. On May 25, two cheetah cubs were died of heat stroke.