Another Cheetah has died in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, hours after a monitoring team found in a wounded condition. "A monitoring team of Kuno National Park found Cheetah Daksha in a wounded condition. She was immediately given necessary medication and treatment but she died around 12 noon,” said a release shared by forest official which confirmed the death of third translocated Cheetah ‘Daksha’ at KNP.

According to the forest officials, the feline had injury marks on her body that suggested aggressive intercourse by Male Cheetah which is quite common in big cats. She was given medical treatment, however could not survive for more than few hours. Daksha’s death has recorded the third fatality in around 40 days. Daksha was released in enclosure number one and two male cheetahs, Vayu and Agni, were released from boma 7 (enclosure) for mating, but it appears that the male cheetahs turned violent during the process which is a normal thing, according to the official.

Also Read: 12 cheetahs brought from South Africa released in acclimatisation enclosure at Kuno National Park

Twenty cheetahs were brought to the national park since last year, of which two died in March and April. Sasha, a captive-bred Cheetah, died in March from a kidney ailment she had been suffering from since before she was brought to India. On January 23, she showed signs of fatigue and weakness, after which officials tranquilised and shifted her to a quarantine enclosure for treatment. Second Cheetah, Uday, died during treatment after he was found sick at the national park in April this year.

On Monday, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change said five more cheetahs — three females and two males — will be released from acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) before the onset of the monsoon in June.

Four Namibian cheetahs have till date been released from fenced acclimatisation camps in KNP. The five animals chosen now for release were picked based on their behavioural characteristics and approachability by the monitoring teams, the statement noted. The remaining 10 cheetahs will remain in acclimatisation camps for the duration of monsoon, it said.

"The other cheetahs have been closely monitored and none of them has shown any similar symptoms," the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a statement on Monday. They all appear to be perfectly healthy, are hunting for themselves and displaying other natural behaviours," the ministry statement added.

A total of 20 cheetahs were moved to Kuno National Park in September and February in the initial phase of a plan to revive the species that disappeared from the country 70 years ago.

Also Read: Project Cheetah: India to release 5 cheetahs into free-ranging conditions in MP's Kuno National Park