A cheetah at Sheopur’s Kuno National Park. On July 14, 2023, Suraj, another cheetah, was found dead at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

Government sources confirmed to The Hindu that another cheetah had been discovered dead in the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. This is the fifth adult to have passed away since 20 of the cats were relocated from Namibia and South Africa a year ago. The Environment Ministry, which is nodally in charge of Project Cheetah, has not provided an explanation for the latest death, though it is understood that an investigation into the cause of death is ongoing, and as of late Friday, a meeting with numerous high officials was taking place.

Two days have passed since the discovery of the body of Tejas, another of the cheetahs, who went by the name Surya. The latter was a “captive” animal, which meant it was still housed in a boma, a unique enclosure. Surya, on the other hand, was one of the 12 cheetahs that are allowed to roam freely in the wild. According to someone with knowledge of the study, Surya may have died from injuries, but he was also grossly underweight, and an autopsy revealed that his organs were “diseased.”

Although the precise cause of Surya’s passing has not been determined, a source who spoke to The Hindu under the condition of anonymity said that the animal had a wound on the back of its neck and might have been developing an infection.

Twelve of the 20 species are wild animals. Surya is the only animal from the wild to have passed away; the other animals were kept in captivity. In addition to the five, one of the animals’ four cubs also lost three of them in May. According to program participants, cheetahs were comparatively “delicate” creatures compared to tigers, lions, and leopards, and more deaths were probably coming. However, unaffiliated specialists claimed that putting the animals in quarantine for a long period of time prior to their arrival in India had “weakened” them.