Three cheetah cubs died in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh. The cause of the deaths is said to be dehydration due to extreme heat and heatstroke. The condition of the remaining cub is also said to be critical. He is undergoing treatment.
On 23 May there was severe heatwave in Sheopur. The temperature was 46 to 47 degree Celsius. Hot wind and heatwave continued throughout the day. One cub was found dead during surveillance, after which the remaining three cubs also looked weak and abnormal, were immediately put under special care by the park team management.
The condition of two cubs worsened during the course of treatment and they could not be saved. The remaining cub is being treated as per the advice of experts and doctors from Namibia and South Africa. Post-mortem of the dead cubs has been done as per the standard protocol.
The department told the media that generally, a weak cheetah cub is able to drink less milk than other cubs, due to which the expectation of its survival decreases and ultimately such cubs do not survive for a long time. This whole process should be seen in the perspective of survival of the fittest.
Further, the survival percentage of cheetah cub is very low in African countries. According to the available literature and experts, the survival percentage in the open forest is only 10 percent. Only one out of 10 Cheetah cubs become adults in natural sites. That is why the number of cubs born in general is the highest in cheetahs compared to other wild cat species.
Valmik Thapar a Naturalist and Conservationist while in conversation with the media stated that the Cheetah Project was an ill advised multi-million dollar project because India is not the natural habitat for Cheetahs. He said India doesn’t have the terrain and food the Cheetah needs and that they were bound to struggle in the hot Indian summer.
He also claimed that historically, India didn’t have a substantial Cheetah population in the wild, most were game catchers and bred in captivity and that the Prime Minister was ill advised on the project.
