BHOPAL: One more of the cheetahs brought to India from South Africa has died. Dhatri, a female cheetah that was brought to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, was found dead this morning. Officials said the cause would be known only after the post-mortem. With this, the number of dead cheetahs in the last five months has increased to nine.

The Supreme Court had earlier expressed concern over the death of cheetahs in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The court also asked the Center to take positive action in this regard but the centre told the court that it is natural for cheetahs to die when they are removed from their natural environment and experts had earlier stated that 50 percent of the cheetahs brought from Namibia would die.

A bench comprising Justices BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala and Prashant Kumar Mishra heard the matter related to the death of the cheetahs. The death of cheetahs brought to India is a failure of Project Cheetah. The court said that it should not be made into a matter of pride. The bench had asked why the cheetahs were kept in one place and why the cheetahs were not relocated by constructing another habitat.