Septicemia caused by radio collars led to death of male cheetahs in MP: Experts

Sheopur (MP): The death of two male cheetahs within a week at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was caused by septicemia - blood poisoning by bacteria - which was a result of the radio collars worn around their necks in the prevailing wet conditions, an expert said.

Male cheetah Suraj, translocated from South Africa, died at the KNP in Sheopur on Friday, while another translocated male cheetah Tejas died on Tuesday.

The death of two cheetahs pushed the fatality count to eight, including three cubs, in less than four months, causing concern over the future of the cheetah reintroduction programme launched with a lot of fanfare by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year.

"Extreme wet conditions are causing the radio collars to create infection. Both the cheetahs died of septicemia," Vincent van der Merwe, a South African cheetah metapopulation expert told PTI from Mongolia, when contacted.

"Those were not wounds inflicted by other animals. They were cases of dermatitis and myiasis followed by septicemia," he said.

Merwe said he manages the Cheetah Metapopulation Project in South Africa on behalf of The Cheetah Metapopulation Initiative and was responsible for bringing cheetahs to India from South Africa. Asked about the fate of the cheetah project in India, he sounded optimistic.

"We still have 75 per cent of the founder population alive and well in India. So all is still on track with observed mortality well within normal parameters for wild cheetah reintroduction," he added.

When cheetah Tejas died on Tuesday, the state forest department officials said they suspected it to be a fallout of infighting among the animals. They said that wounds were found around the neck of the deceased feline.

On Friday, cheetah Suraj was found dead with wounds around his neck and back and flies and insects were hovering around, they added. Radio collars have been fitted around the necks of the translocated cheetahs to monitor their movement for safety and other issues, officials said.

When contacted, KNP director Uttam Sharma said they have sent the postmortem reports of the two cheetahs to the senior authorities in Bhopal, but refused to elaborate. (PTI)