Tragedy on the Plains
One of the study’s cheetahs is killed
There was tragic news last Sunday as one of the Project’s study cheetahs was killed on the main road through the Serengeti. The cheetah in question was a male called Nils, who had recently returned to the study area after being away for two years (see news article Back from Beyond). He was last seen by the project only two days before his death when he was looking healthy and as though he was just starting to recover from a bout of mange. He seems to have been hit by a car or truck early in the morning but was not found until about 10am meaning sadly that many cars must have just driven past his body without reporting the incident. A post mortem was conducted which showed that Nils died from massive internal injuries, including a ruptured liver and numerous broken ribs.
This horrible incident highlights one of the key concerns about the planned new Serengeti road. If the road goes ahead there are fears that the number of road kill incidents in the park will dramatically increase. Everyone at the Cheetah Project is obviously devastated by the news of Nils’s death, especially as it comes only a couple of months after we were so pleased that he had returned to the study area.
