Cheetah cubs rescued from illegal trafficking 0:46
(CNN) -- Three cheetah cubs died this week in India, dealing a further setback to the government's historic effort to reintroduce the species to the country after 70 years of extinction.
The cubs were part of a litter of four born in late March to a female cheetah named Siyaya, who was one of eight rehabilitated cheetahs brought from Namibia to India's Kuno National Park in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in September last year.
The first cub died Tuesday morning, JS Chauhan, chief conservator of the Forest Department of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, said in an interview with local media. Over the next two days, two other puppies succumbed to "heat, dehydration and weakness," according to Forest Department officials.
The fourth puppy was also rescued and taken to a local hospital for follow-up, Chauhan said.
"His condition was not very good either, but after treatment, the puppy looks much better, although he is underweight and a little weak. Both mother and puppy remain under observation," he added.
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The government did not give the cause of death, but the day they died was one of the hottest of the season, with temperatures as high as 46-47 degrees Celsius.
The latest deaths bring to six the number of cheetahs killed since their reintroduction in India.
Siyaya gave birth to the cubs more than 70 years after cheetahs were declared extinct in India. It took a multi-stage journey to move her and seven other cats from Namibia, on the southwest coast of Africa, to central India.
Another 12 cheetahs arrived from South Africa in February.
But since then three adult cheetahs have died. A South African cheetah died during an attempted courtship and mating, a Namibian cheetah died of kidney disease, and a South African cheetah died due to heart failure.
Cub mortality is high in both the wild and in captivity, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo. On average, 30% of cubs born in human care die within a month of birth, and in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, about 90% die before they are three months old, according to the zoo.
Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952. So far they are the only large carnivore in the country to have suffered that fate.
Currently, spotted cats are most prevalent in Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, and in Namibia and Botswana in southern Africa, according to the National Zoo. But historically, these endangered felines had a much larger range, roaming the Middle East and central India, as well as most of sub-Saharan Africa.
Habitat loss, poaching and conflicts with humans have greatly reduced their populations. According to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, today only 9% of its historical range remains, with fewer than 7,100 adult and adolescent cheetahs in the wild.
Tara Subramaniam, Manveena Suri and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
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