A 19-month-old radio-collared cheetah cub at Kuno National Park is under treatment after suffering injuries that reportedly included three or four metal pellets lodged in its abdomen. While sources cited by the Times of India said the cub may have been shot at close range, Kuno authorities have not confirmed the cause of the injuries and said all possible angles were being examined.
The male cub, one of cheetah Nirva’s offspring, was found injured by a monitoring team on the evening of October 25 while ranging near the Morena Territorial Forest Division, which borders Sheopur district. He was rescued overnight, brought to Kuno for medical examination and treatment, and later shifted to a medical facility in Jabalpur. His condition was described as stable but not yet out of danger.
The Times of India reported that medical examination detected three or four pieces of metal inside the cub’s abdominal cavity. Sources quoted in the report said the injuries were consistent with pellets, but the exact cause and weapon involved had not been established. Officials are conducting forensic and ballistic examinations to determine whether the metal came from a traditional muzzle-loading bharmar firearm or a country-made 12-bore gun.
Kuno authorities said an investigation was under way to ascertain the cause of the injuries and that “all possible angles” were being examined. The statement issued by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of the Cheetah Project did not confirm a shooting. State chief wildlife warden Samita Rajora also said it was too early to comment while the cause of injury was being investigated.
The Special Tiger Strike Force has been sent to the area and officers have been placed on high alert. The forest department is also expected to seek assistance from the state police’s Special Task Force to identify those responsible if an act of violence is established. Investigators are reportedly examining whether a close-range discharge may have followed a chance encounter in the forest, although no motive or suspect has been confirmed.
The case has raised fresh concerns about the security environment around Project Cheetah, which began bringing African cheetahs to Kuno in September 2022 after the species had been declared extinct in India in 1952. The project’s first action plan had identified bushmeat consumption and the availability of country-made firearms, bows, arrows and other hunting tools in surrounding areas as risks requiring attention.
Poaching has previously been reported in and around Kuno’s buffer areas. A leopard was killed in the buffer zone in April 2022, before the first cheetahs arrived from Namibia. Authorities have also recorded deer-poaching concerns, seized a rifle near the park entrance in August 2023 and investigated alleged attempts by suspected poachers to enter areas used by released cheetahs. The supplied report does not establish a connection between those incidents and the present injury.
The cub’s case is also significant because it is described as the first reported attack of its kind on a cheetah since the species was reintroduced in India. The monitoring team’s overnight rescue reflects the round-the-clock tracking system maintained by the Madhya Pradesh forest department, but the investigation will determine whether the injury was caused by gunfire, another form of human action or a different event. Kuno authorities have not yet announced a final finding or identified any accused person.
