<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>A cheetah has died in India's Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh state, the second in less than a month.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Forest officials said the cause of the six-year-old male animal's death was not immediately known.</div><div><br></div><div>It was one of 12 big cats that were brought to India from South Africa in February.</div><div><br></div><div>India reintroduced cheetahs last year, more than 70 years after the animal was declared officially extinct in the country.</div><div><br></div><div>On 27 March, a female cheetah who was part of the first batch of animals brought from Namibia had died of a suspected kidney ailment.</div><div><br></div><div>The reintroduction of cheetahs in India has generated excitement and any news related to them has been making headlines.</div><div><br></div><div>Eight Namibian cheetahs - five males and three females - were translocated to India last year amid fanfare.</div><div><br></div><div>Twelve more cheetahs were brought to India from South Africa in February. They were all first kept in a controlled quarantine zone at the park in Kuno before being released into the wild. A team of forest officials and doctors have been tracking and monitoring their movements.</div><div><br></div><div>The country also welcomed the birth of four cheetah cubs on 29 March. They were born to one of the females that came from Namibia last September.</div><div>India's environment minister, Bhupendra Yadav, had announced the news, calling it a "momentous event".</div><div><br></div><div>Cheetahs have great symbolic value in India as they are part of many folktales. But it is also the only large mammal to become extinct since independence in 1947.</div><div><br></div><div>Hunting, diminishing habitats and non-availability of enough prey - black buck, gazelle and hare - were the main reasons for the extinction of the cat in India. During British rule, cheetahs were also eliminated through bounty hunting because they were entering villages and killing livestock.</div><div><br></div><div>Wildlife experts have welcomed the reintroduction of the animal in India but some have also warned of potential risks to them from other predators and not having enough prey. - BBC</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>