Namibian Cheetah Sasha Dies In Kuno National Park

Sasha, one of the 8 cheetahs translocated from Namibia in September last year and released in Kuno national park, died on March 27. After almost two months’ of illness, the five year old female cheetah died in the morning.  Addditional chief secretary forest department JS Kansotia confirmed this.  Sasha was diagnosed with hepatorenal, a kidney and liver-related infection, in the last week of January, four months after she was brought to Kuno in September 2022.  Sasha was  brought up in captivity in Namibia after she was picked up in malnourished  condition in a farm field there . Knowing her health conditions, Indian officials had even objected to her translocation as they apprehended that she might not last in the wild.

Renal Complications 

On January 23 , the female cheetah  had showed signs of fatigue and weakness, after which she was tranquilised and shifted to the quarantine enclosure for treatment. “Two days after medicines had been injected intravenously, the cheetah was showing signs of improvement,” state chief wildlife warden JS Chauhan had said , adding that the treatment would continue for a few more days. Chauhan  had said prima facie the illness seemed to be a result of kidney  infection.  The creatinine levels were reported higher than normal and the animal showed signs of dehydration too.  Reacting on her death on Monday, a senior official of the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFC&C)  involved in the cheetah translocation project,  said, "After she was detected with renal complications, she was recovering". But for the past few days she was not keeping well, he said. She died on March 27 forenoon, sources said. 

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After day-long speculation on her death, the state forest department confirmed her death in the late evening. As part of the medical response after her illness in January , the MP forest department had two veterinarians stationed at Kuno. One of them is the dedicated doctor for Kuno while the dedicated veterinarian for the neighbouring Madhav National Park in Shivpuri was stationed there. Besides, a veterinarian from the Wildlife Institute of India at Dehradun was also rushed to Kuno. A veterinarian from Bhopal’s Vanvihar National Park was also sent  to assist the  team of veterinarians in Kuno. Cheetah management expert Eli Walker of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) was  also in Kuno. To save Sasha, the medical team was also seeking advice from Andrian Tordiffe, a renowned cheetah veterinarian from South Africa.

 

Sasha Was Weak,  Bred In Captivity

  

Ace Indian wildlife scientist YV Jhala whose services were cut short abruptly   recently had   revealed, after he was relieved from the post of dean Wildlife Institute of India, about the poor health conditions of three of the  eight cheetahs  brought from Namibia. After a delay, two of them were released in the open jungle of Kuno on March 11. This was followed by the release of two more.  “The remaining three , including Sasha, have been found unfit for the wild  and are required to hone their skills to survive in the wild and will have to wait” , officials  had explained  after the  release of the two males on March 11. Jhala, who led the team of Indian officials that visited Namibia ahead of the translocation, had written to the environment ministry in August 2022 advising that the three cheetahs should not be translocated. 

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After Jhala was relieved from   the WII, he revealed that he had written an email over the issue to the MoEFC&C.  Earlier this month, Jhala  told Hindustan Times, “I sent a confidential mail to three environment ministry officers that cheetahs can’t hunt, ... .(but the), three cheetahs were translocated”. After the death of Sasha, Siyaya and Savannah- the two weak cats -   are still in a small boma or enclosure and the MoEFC&C officials  are concerned over their chances of survival in the wild. One  healthy female  cheetah  is  still not released and  continues to be in captivity.  After the first cheetah  causality, there are 19 cheetahs at the Kuno National Park in Sheopur, including 12 more brought from South Africa last month. The South African cheetahs are still in quarantine 

By Deshdeep Saxena

Representational Images. Banner Imager File Pic of Sasha