Namibian cheetah relocated to India dies

One of eight cheetahs flown to India from Namibia in September last year died on Monday.

Namibia’s environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said the cheetah, aged five, died of kidney failure.

He said the cheetah, named Sasha, was under medical care for the past three months.

The female cheetah was not put into the wild but had been in quarantine for observation and treatment, he added.“The other cheetahs are doing very well. Currently four of them are out in the wild – they are hunting and being monitored,” he said.

The eight cheetahs – five females and three males – were flown from Namibia to India’s Kuno National Park to reintroduce their population after 70 years of extinction.

They were relocated as part of “Project Cheetah”, the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project.