Cheetah cub dies during treatment in first suspected case of shooting in Madhya Pradesh

The cheetah cub was shifted to the School of Wildlife Forensic and Health in Jabalpur for further treatment where it died during treatment on Tuesday (October 27, 2026), according to a senior wildlife official. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

A male cheetah cub, found with suspected gunshot injuries outside the boundaries of Kuno National Park (KNP), died during treatment in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, The Hindu has learnt. This is the first such attack on a cheetah since the beginning of a reintroduction programme for the species in September 2022.

An official statement on the death is still awaited. 

The incident has prompted the State’s wildlife authorities to launch an investigation led by the State Tiger Strike Force. 

The cheetah cub was shifted to the School of Wildlife Forensic and Health in Jabalpur for further treatment where it died during treatment on Tuesday (October 27, 2026), according to a senior wildlife official. This was confirmed by a senior doctor at the institute.

“A detailed probe is going on and we are exploring all angles, including poaching. But the cub appears to have been shot at close range. Around three-four pellets have been recovered from his body,” the official said, seeking anonymity.

Born to a female cheetah named Nirva, the 19-month-old male cub was found by a monitoring team on the evening of October 25 in the Morena Forest Division, after which he was rescued on the same night and brought to the Kuno National Park for treatment, according to an official statement. 

“An investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the injuries. At this stage, all possible angles are being examined regarding the circumstances leading to the condition of the cheetah,” Kuno Field Director and Project Cheetah Director Uttam Kumar Sharma said in a press note on Monday (October 26, 2026). 

Mr. Sharma, however, declined to speak on the matter on Tuesday, saying the cub had been found outside his geographical jurisdiction.

All cheetahs that have been released in the wild wear a radio collar, with the authorities claiming 24/7 satellite-based location monitoring of them. 

Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey, however, has raised questions regarding the safety of the species, which has been reintroduced in the country since it went extinct in 1952, while suspecting it to be a case of poaching. 

“This does not seem like a case of shooting in self-defence as a cheetah attacking a human unprovoked is very rare and we have not seen a single case in four years. The State Tiger Strike Force, which usually caters to serious wildlife crimes like poaching, has also been involved,” Mr. Dubey said, accusing the wildlife authorities of neglecting warnings and previous cases of poaching, including a recent suspected case involving a radio-collared leopard in the same region. 

“If this is a case of poaching, the important question is if the poachers had the cheetah’s location,” he said. 

The reintroduction programme was launched in September 2022, with the first intercontinental translocation of eight cheetahs from Namibia, after which 20 cheetahs were also brought from South Africa in February 2023. In February this year, nine cheetahs were translocated from Botswana. So far, 41 cheetah births have taken place in India. 

With the latest death, the country’s total cheetah population is down to 58, of which 52 are at Kuno, and four at the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur and Neemuch districts of Madhya Pradesh. 

Earlier this month, two cheetahs were also released, by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, into the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Sagar district, making it the third home for the species. 

Published - October 27, 2026 04:58 pm IST