Born a month ago, 4 cheetah cubs found dead in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno Park; carcasses partially devoured

New Delhi: Four one-month old India-born cheetah cubs were killed on Tuesday “possibly by another animal” at Sheopur forest, adjacent to Kuno national park, giving a set-back to the country’s much talked about cheetah translocation programme.

The cubs were found dead at around 6.30 AM with bodies partially eaten by the monitoring team near the den site in Sheopur territorial division in Madhya Pradesh, an official said, noting that the 26 month old mother cheetah – an India born female identified as KGP12 - is safe and healthy.

“Prima facie, the incident appears to be predation by another animal. Further details will be known after post-mortem examination and detailed investigation,” the official said. The cubs were observed alive last on Monday evening.

The birth of the four cubs last month was dubbed as a “milestone” by the centre as it was the first case of of an India-born female giving birth to cubs in the wild since the reintroduction programme began in 2022.

In a social media post in April, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav described the KGP-12’s litter in the wild as a “milestone moment”.

Wildlife experts said such killings of cubs in natural forests and game parks by other predators like tiger, leopard or hyena were considered natural. The Union Environment Ministry, however, didn’t offer any comment.

At least nine cheetahs imported from Namibia and South Africa in the last four years have died under different circumstances, leaving 11 surviving so far.

Some of the cubs born in India too died, but it was for the first time four cubs were killed by another animal. In February, nine more cheetahs were brought from Botswana.

Kuno national park currently has 50 cheetahs including 33 India-born individuals in addition to three cheetahs at Gandhi Sagar sanctuary. But all the surviving cubs, sources said, were captive born unlike the killed four.

The tragedy strike days before the first International Big Cat Alliance summit where officials from several countries will discuss strategies to conserve seven big cats – tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma – and their ecosystems. The summit will be held in New Delhi on June 1-2.