On March 27, a female cheetah that brought from Namibia to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park died owing to an infection in her kidneys, stated the State Forest Department.
The cheetah named ‘Sasha’ was one of the 8 individuals brought to India on September 17, 2022, to flag off India’s Project Cheetah which aims to introduce African cheetahs into parks in India.
Senior scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and the management of the Kuno National Park (KNP) accessed the treatment history of the animal through the Cheetah Conservation Foundation of Namibia. This demonstrated that the cheetah's final blood test, which was completed on August 31, 2022, in Namibia, similarly contained significant amounts of creatinine (more than 400). According to the Department, this demonstrates that the cheetah was already infected before cominh to India.
From March 22 till the animal’s death on March 27, wildlife dcotors and Namibian scientist Eli Walker treated the cheetah. Teams discussed with several experts as they reviewed the animal’s health. The seven other cheetahs – including three males and a female that have been released in the wild in Kuno – are healthy, the note said.
The 6-year-old female named Sasha had shown signs of dehydration in January and had been isolated in a quarantine boma. Some reports put it down to renal failure and said her survival looked bleak.