Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday took a dig at the Union government over the death of the eighth cheetah at the Kuno National Park, saying all that can be hoped for is that conservation science prevails over political prestige.

Male cheetah Suraj, translocated from Africa, died at Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, forest officials said. It took the number of cheetahs that have died at the park in Sheopur district since March this year to eight.

"Today should have been a day of unadulterated joy with the launch of Chandrayaan-3. Sadly, the news has just come in that the eighth cheetah has died at Kuno," Ramesh said.

"The expert group would surely be examining what is going wrong repeatedly. All that can be hoped for is that conservation science prevails over political prestige," the Congress general secretary said on Twitter.

Only three days ago, another translocated male cheetah, Tejas, had died at the park.

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