Cheetah Sasha dies due to kidney ailment in MP’s Kuno National Park

A Namibian Cheetah passed away at Kuno National Park in MP, India. The cheetah, named Sasha, was reportedly in good health when it was moved to India on September 17th 2022, but it was discovered that it had a kidney infection. This event was a setback for the project aimed at rejuvenating the cheetah population in the country.

More about Namibian Cheetah

• The cheetah had been brought from Namibia on September 17th, 2022, as part of India’s initiative to reintroduce cheetahs into the wild after their extinction in the country over 70 years ago.
• The initiative was launched in 2018, and the government had planned to release 50 cheetahs into the wild in the next few years

Kuno National Park: Key facts

• Kuno National Park is situated in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh, which is in central India near the Vindhyan Hills.
• The park spans an area of 748 square kilometers and is located within the larger Kuno Wildlife Division.
• Initially, it was established as a wildlife sanctuary, but its status was changed to a national park in 2018.
• The park is named after the Kuno River, which is one of the primary tributaries of the Chambal River, and runs through the region, which is predominantly grassland.
• The park is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including the jungle cat, Indian leopard, sloth bear, Indian wolf, striped hyena, golden jackal, Bengal fox, dhole, and over 120 species of birds.
• Kuno National Park was selected as part of the “Action Plan for the Introduction of Cheetah in India.”

Project Cheetah

• The first-ever project to translocate large wild carnivores across continents was initiated with the aim of reintroducing cheetahs to India.
• The project, known as Project Cheetah, was approved by the Supreme Court of India in January 2020 as a pilot program.
• Over the next five years, the project aims to reintroduce approximately 50 cheetahs into the wild in India.