African Cheetah dies of cardiopulmonary failure at Kuno National Park

The South African Cheetah 'Uday' died due to cardiopulmonary failure at Kuno National Park situated in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, an official said on Tuesday.

Cheetah 'Uday' died on Sunday evening and its post mortem was conducted on Monday. Uday was among the batch of 12 cheetahs (7 males, 5 females) that were translocated from South Africa to India on February 17, 2023.

"According to the preliminary report of the post mortem, Cheetah 'Uday' had died due to cardiopulmonary failure. We have sent the sample to Veterinary University, Jabalpur to ascertain the reason behind it. It will be known only after the detailed examination of the sample," Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) J S Chouhan told ANI.

When asked about how much time it will take for a detailed report, he said the expert of Veterinary University Jabalpur would be able to tell about it.

When questioned about taking advice from the doctors of the Central Government, Namibia and South Africa, he said, "We always take advice. Whenever there is a new disease or we do something new, then we definitely take advice from them. Either an expert from Namibia or from South Africa."

Reacting to the MP forest department requesting the central government to shift cheetahs to another habitat, he said, "According to the provision in the cheetah action plan, we have requested the Government of India to kindly consider that we should keep some cheetahs at another place."

Speaking about the reasons for cardiopulmonary, he said that a detailed examination would be done, blood samples had been taken, vital organ samples had been taken, it would be known only after its examination what is the cause of death. Whether it was virus or bacteria.

Talking about the precautions being observed for other cheetahs, he added, "All the other cheetahs are healthy, but we are eagerly waiting for Uday's final PM report on what kind of things will come out in it. If we have to take some more precautions, then we will discuss with the experts and will take precautions accordingly."