Bengaluru: Nabha, an African cheetah that came from Namibia in 2022, is the latest to die in India’s ongoing ambitious Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The eight-year-old female died on July 12, a week after it was “possibly” injured in a “hunting attempt” within its enclosure.

The death of the Namibian cheetah comes just three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address in Namibia’s Parliament on July 9, claimed that the cheetahs sent from the country were “happy” and had told him to convey the message that “everything is fine”.

'Possibly' a hunting injury

According to an official statement by Madhya Pradesh Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Kuno Uttam Kumar Sharma, Nabha was “badly injured a week back probably during [sic] hunting attempt inside her Soft Release Boma”.

“She had [sic] fracture in both Ulna and Fibula on the left side along with other injuries. She was under treatment for a week but succumbed to her injuries,” the statement accessed by The Wire read.

However, all the remaining 26 cheetahs – nine adults, and 17 cubs born on Indian soil – are “healthy and doing well”, Sharma said in the statement. Of the 26, 16 are currently in the wild in and around Kuno.

“They have adapted well to [sic] habitat of Kuno National Park, have learned to live with co-predators and are regularly hunting. Recently anti ecto-parasitic medication of all cheetahs has been completed,” the statement read.

'Happy' cheetahs

Incidentally, the death of Nabha comes just three days after Modi told the Namibian Parliament that the cheetahs they sent were “happy” and that the animals had sent a message through him to Namibians that “everything is fine”.

On July 9, in his address in the Namibian parliament at Windhoek, Modi thanked the African country for its “gift” of eight African cheetahs to India and that India was “grateful” for them.

“They have sent a message for you: inimaa aaishe oyilii naavaa Everything is fine,” Modi had declared in his address.

“They are happy and have adapted well in their new home. They have grown in numbers as well. Clearly, they are enjoying their time in India,” he added.

However, with Nabha’s death, more than half of the eight adult cheetahs that have come in from Namibia are now dead. These include Nabha (aka Savannah, the most recent adult cheetah to die), Pavan (aka Oban, who supposedly died in a drowning incident), Shaurya (aka Freddie, who died due to what authorities termed a “weakness” after not responding to treatment) and Dhatri (aka Tbilisi).

Sasha, a female from Namibia, had been the first adult cheetah to die in Kuno on March 27, 2023, due to what authorities say was kidney failure.

According to the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund which was then assisting Project Cheetah, Dhatri died due to a “maggot infection”. Two other adult males had also just died due to maggot infections that caused septicaemia, a blood infection. Veterinary experts had told The Wire that the infections may have been caused by the radio collars on the animals’ necks.

While Dhatri died on August 2, 2023, Shaurya died on January 16 last year. Pavan died seven months later, on August 27.

Namibia was the first African country to send cheetahs to India to kickstart Project Cheetah on the day of Modi’s birthday in 2022, September 17.

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