African cheetah’s death: Vets at Kuno say Tejas sustained injuries during mating
BHOPAL,JULY 12: A day after another African male cheetah, Tejas, died at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, veterinarians said the big cat sustained injuries during mating.
“It is believed that Tejas sustained injuries during a clash with a female cheetah, Nabha, during mating and he passed away before receiving treatment,” they said.
However, veterinarians Dr Atul Gupta from Bhopal Van Vihar and Dr Kajal from Veterinary College, Jabalpur, are yet to submit the post-mortem report.
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Members of the monitoring team at Kuno National Park observed injury marks on Tejas’s upper neck at 11 am on Tuesday.
Wildlife doctors, who had examined Tejas on-site and discovered that the wounds were severe, sedated it and made preparations for its treatment. But the big cat succumbed to its injuries at around 2 pm.
Wildlife officials said, “Tejas was housed alone in enclosure number 6, while Nabha, the female cheetah, was placed in nearby enclosure number 5. In an attempt to facilitate their mating, the gate of enclosure number 5 was opened.”
Wildlife officials have launched an inquiry into the matter.
A spotty trajectory for the cheetahs in Kuno
With the death of Tejas, seven felines, including three cubs born to the Namibian cheetah Jwala, have died at the Kuno National Park since March, in a setback to the reintroduction programme launched with much fanfare in September last year.
“Cheetah Tejas, aged around four years, died at Kuno due to suspected infighting,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Wildlife JS Chauhan said.
The feline, brought from South Africa as part of the ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme, was in an enclosure at the time of the incident, the official said.
The latest death came a day after two more male cheetahs were released into the wild at KNP.
Eight Namibian cheetahs — five female and three male — were released into enclosures at KNP on September 17 last year at a high-profile event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In February this year, 12 more cheetahs arrived at KNP from South Africa.
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From 24 cheetahs, 20 translocated from Namibia and South Africa and four cubs were born at Kuno. The total count of felines at the national park has now dropped to 17.
The fastest land animal was declared extinct in the country in 1952.
Earlier in the day, another forest official said two more cheetahs — Prabhash and Pavak — were released into the wild at KNP on Monday, taking the count of such felines to 12.
-The India Today
