On cheetah deaths, Supreme Court tells Centre, 'don't make it prestige issue…'

A total of eight cheetahs, including three cubs, have died at the national park in last four months – two of them died recently due an alleged skin infection

Supreme Court on Thursday sought the Centre's response on the sequential deaths of cheetahs at the Kuno National Park saying ‘40% of deaths occurring within a year does not reflect a good picture’.

A File Photo of a Cheetah brought from Namibia of South Africa that died at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh (ANI)

A total of eight cheetahs, including three cubs, have died at the national park in last four months – two of them died recently due an alleged skin infection called septicaemia, caused due to abrasion by radio collars. This raised questions on the monitoring of the cheetahs at the national park.

The apex court also told the central government to ‘not make it a prestige issue’ as the deaths of these felines are concerning. Reiterating its recommendation from May, the top court told the Centre to explore options of having alternate habitats for them, irrespective of state it is located.

The government has agreed to file its response. The matter will now be heard on August 1.

Earlier, a steering committee meeting was held after the deaths of two cheetahs – Tejas and Suraj – where it was decided to transfer the Madhya Pradesh chief wildlife warden and head of the cheetah project at the national park Jasbir Singh Chauhan.

Now, the KNP has 15 cheetahs – four in the enclosure and 11 in the wild. One cub was rejected by his mother and is being taken care of by the forest officials.