• Source:ANI
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Another female cheetah named 'Dhatri' died in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, the authorities said on Wednesday. Aseem Srivastava, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) said the post-mortem is being conducted to ascertain the cause of death.

"A female cheetah 'Dhatri' was found dead in Kuno National Park today morning. Post-mortem is being conducted to ascertain the cause of death," a press note issued by authorities stated. 

Last month on July 14, a male Cheetah named Suraj, brought from Africa died at Kuno National Park, taking the total toll to eight.

ALSO READ: Another Cheetah Dies At Kuno National Park, Toll Rises To 8; Second Death In A Week

Since March 2023, a total of nine cheetahs that were brought to Kuno National Park from South Africa and Namibia have tragically died. A female cheetah named Dhatri, who died today is the latest death that made the death count to nine. 

Amid rising concern over the sudden death of cheetahs at Kuno National Park, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) said the preliminary analysis of Cheetah mortalities pointed out natural causes.

"As per the preliminary analysis by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex body entrusted with the implementation of Project Cheetah, all mortalities are due to natural causes," the statement said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Recently, Supreme Court expressed its concern about the death of cheetahs and asked the Centre to take some positive steps regarding the matter. However, the Centre earleir apprised the top court that 50 per cent of deaths on translocation are normal.

On Monday, Centre responded to the top court and said deaths occurred due to natural causes and not on account of any "inherent unsuitability" of the Kuno National Park site. The deaths were not caused by "unnatural reasons" such as hunting, sharing, traffic accidents, electrocution, etc, the affidavit stated.

"The provisional diagnosis of mortality events points towards natural causes and none of the cheetahs have died due to unnatural reasons such as poaching, snaring, poisoning, road hits, electrocution etc. It is respectfully submitted that the NTCA today has no reasons to believe the mortalities were caused on account of any inherent unsuitability at the Kuno site," the affidavit said, The Times Of India (TOI) reported.