Chehaw Executive Director Doug Porter said Kai, who was nearly 3 years old, was found dead in his crate Tuesday afternoon. He had been tranquilized as part of a routine health exam and was put in the crate to wake back up, Porter said.
“It’s a sad fact of our business,” he said. “All of the animals, like humans, we all know we’re going to die at some point.
“It appears that this was just an unfortunate incident.”
Because Kai and the three other cheetahs at Chehaw are siblings, they were not part of a mating plan, Porter said.
Kai had been in good health and no problems were found during his annual physical examination, so zoo officials don’t know what caused his death, he said. A necropsy — an animal autopsy — will be scheduled for Kai.
The death comes only about five days before the season’s first Breakfast with the Cheetahs program, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday. The show will go on as scheduled, Porter said.
“It will be good for the staff, which was pretty upset, and the animals for us to go ahead and do the event on Saturday morning,” he said.
Tickets for the show are $30 and 20 of the 25 spots had been filled the last time he checked, Porter said.
He also said he did not expect the cheetah’s death to affect attendance at the park or the zoo’s Association of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation status.
Kai’s death shouldn’t affect the other three cheetahs much, because the cats are not very social animals, Porter said. There are no plans to replace Kai in the pack.
“It would be difficult to introduce another animal to this group. It’s unlikely we’ll try to get another animal to introduce, since the group’s already established,” he said, pointing out that a group of three was still a decently sized pack.
Kai arrived at the park in February 2006 from White Oak Conservation Center. The routine exam included blood work, vaccinations and a dental exam and cleaning, according to a Chehaw news release.