Cheetah gifted by Saudi Prince dies of heart attack at Hyderabad Zoo

Hyderabad, March 26: A 15-year-old male Cheetah gifted by the Saudi Prince a decade ago died of a heart attack at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad. The Cheetah, named 'Abdullah', died on Saturday, a Zoo official told IANS. The Zoo authorities conducted a post-mortem which revealed that it succumbed to heart attack.

During his visit to the Zoo on the occasion of CoP11 summit -2012 held in Hyderabad, Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Mohammed Al Saud had announced gifting two pairs of African lions and cheetahs.

The zoo had received the animals from the National Wildlife Research Centre of Saudi Arabia in 2013.

The female Cheetah died in 2020 and since then the male cheetah, named 'Abdullah', was alone.

'Hiba', the female Cheetah, died at the age of eight. She was diagnosed with paraplegia.

Paraplegia is a medical condition involving impairment sensory function of the lower extremities, which is a classification of paralysis.

With Abdullah's death, Nehru Zoological Park has no Cheetah. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India about 70 years ago. Last year, eight cheetahs from Namibia were released into Madhya Pradesh's Kuno national park to reintroduce the feline in India.