Sheopur, 23 April
On 17 September 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself went to Kuno National Park on his birthday and 8 leopards brought from Namibia were released in the park. Then in February 2023, 12 total 20 leopards were released. After this the leopards started dying. Two leopards were killed. The 10 percent mortality rate is high. In Gujarat also all the leopards brought by Modi are dead. Now this is happening in Madhya Pradesh.
A cheetah named Uday died in Kuno National Park located in Shipur district of Madhya Pradesh.
Suddenly his health deteriorated in the morning. He died in the afternoon. This leopard was about six years old. The cause of death will be known after the post mortem report. After the end of the quarantine period in April, the African cheetahs were released into the wild.
A four-and-a-half-year-old girl named Sasha died last month. He had kidney infection.
Teams of experts at the state and central levels have also taken the help of modern equipment to track the leopard’s every move, even as the deaths continue. This is the second time in less than a month that a leopard has been killed.
Cheetahs became extinct in the country about seven decades ago. He was rehabilitated. On March 29, a female cheetah gave birth to four cubs.
The incident is being seen as a major setback for Project Chita.
Uday was healthy in the evening. He died the next day at 4 pm. On Sunday morning at 9 am, the leopard was seen sitting with its head bowed for the daily surveillance by the team. On closer observation, he was seen staggering and walking with his neck bowed. Although the day before he was perfectly healthy.
The last leopard in the country died in 1947 in Koriya district of present-day Chhattisgarh and the species was declared extinct in 1952.
The area is 748 km² with a buffer zone of 487 km² around it.
There are now 18 cheetahs and four cubs left in Kuno.
ચિત્તા શું ગુજરાતની જેમ કુનોમાં મોતને ભેટશે ?
questions about death
In the case of Cheetah Sasha’s death due to kidney disease in Kuno, other senior officials including the Kuno management claimed that she was already suffering from this disease before being brought to India. The officials then claimed that all the other cheetahs were in good health. However, the death of another leopard has raised questions on the claim of the officials.
All these cheetahs were released on April 17 and 19 after completing a two-month quarantine period. At that time his health test was also done. Now Chief Chief Conservator of Forests J.S. Chauhan says that during checking at 11 am, the leopard’s health was found unwell and it could not be saved till evening.
It is suspected that he has been bitten by some poisonous insect, the officials have denied the bite.
Uday Chitta’s health was going bad for a long time.
There will be videography and photography of the post mortem. Animal experts from Bhopal and Jabalpur have been sent to Kuno for postmortem.