Four cubs born to country’s 1st India-born cheetah found dead in Kuno

Bhopal: Barely a month after their birth was celebrated as a historic milestone for India’s cheetah restoration project, four cubs born to the country’s first wild-breeding India-born cheetah were found dead near their den site in Kuno National Park in Sheopur district on Tuesday.

The cubs, born on April 11 to female cheetah KGP12 in the Sheopur territorial division adjoining Kuno, were found partially consumed, by a monitoring team around 6.30 am during routine surveillance.

Officials said the cubs had last been seen alive on Monday evening.

Prima facie, forest officials suspect the cubs may have fallen prey to another wild animal. State chief wildlife warden Samita Rajora described it as an “unfortunate incident”.

Sources in the forest department said preliminary postmortem findings and field evidence point towards a leopard attack. “The distance of the canine marks indicates that the cubs were likely killed by a leopard,” an officer said on condition of anonymity. Officials said detailed postmortem examination and further investigation are underway.

The mother cheetah was reported to be safe and healthy.

The deaths come weeks after Project Cheetah celebrated what officials had described as the programme’s most significant breakthrough since the reintroduction of African cheetahs to India in 2022.

KGP12, a 25-month-old female born on Indian soil on March 10, 2024, was the second female cub from Gamini’s first litter. Her delivery of four cubs in the wild was hailed as the first successful breeding by an India-born cheetah living freely in open forest conditions.

Wildlife officials had described the birth as a key transition point for the project from intensive management to natural population establishment.

“This was the benchmark of success we were waiting for — an India-born cheetah breeding in the wild,” Rajora had said after the birth announcement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched Project Cheetah on September 17, 2022, by releasing eight cheetahs from Namibia into Kuno, marking the species’ return to India decades after its extinction.

Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav had called the birth of the cubs a “historic moment” and said it reflected the growing adaptation of cheetahs to Indian conditions.

Conservation experts had, however, cautioned that survival of newborn cubs remained the biggest challenge in the harsh central Indian landscape and predators.

Officials said field teams had intensified monitoring while maintaining minimal human interference, tracking the mother and cubs through ground patrols and surveillance inputs.

The identity of the cubs’ father had not yet been confirmed, with officials analysing satellite collar data and movement patterns of male cheetahs in the landscape because multiple males have overlapping territories in parts of Kuno.

Officials said Kuno National Park currently has 50 cheetahs, including 33 India-born cheetahs, in addition to three cheetahs housed at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. Following the deaths of the four cubs, India’s total cheetah population now stands at 53.

“All remaining cheetahs are healthy and doing well,” the Project Cheetah field director said in an official statement.