The Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad recently experienced the loss of its last remaining cheetah, a 15-year-old male named ‘Abdullah’. The cheetah was gifted to the zoo by Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al Saud a decade ago. The zoo authorities conducted a post-mortem examination, which revealed that Abdullah had died of a heart attack.
In 2013, the Nehru Zoological Park received two pairs of African lions and cheetahs from the National Wildlife Research Centre of Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, the female cheetah, named ‘Hiba’, passed away in 2020 at the age of eight due to paraplegia, a medical condition that involves the impairment of sensory function in the lower extremities.
With Abdullah’s passing, the Nehru Zoological Park no longer has any cheetahs. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India approximately 70 years ago. However, last year, eight cheetahs from Namibia were released into Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno national park as part of an effort to reintroduce the feline species in India.
