Four cheetah cubs, born about a month earlier, were discovered dead on Tuesday morning at Kuno National Park. An official said the carcasses were found partially eaten, as reported by PTI.
“Around 6.30 am today, four cubs - born to female cheetah KGP12 on April 11 - were found dead with carcasses partially eaten, by the monitoring team near the den site in Sheopur territorial division,” the official said, PTI reported.
The cubs were last observed alive on the evening of May 11, he said.
The death of these cubs appears to have been caused due to predation by another animal, the official said.
The mother cheetah is safe and healthy. Further details will be known after post-mortem examination and detailed investigation, he said, as reported by PTI.
After the death of these four cubs, there are now 53 cheetahs left in India. While the Kuno National Park is home to 50 cheetahs, including 33 Indian-born ones, three cheetahs are at the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in the state, according to him.
Field Director, Cheetah Project issues a press note, “Today, on 12.05.2026 at around 06:30 AM, the four cubs (one month old) of female Cheetah KGP12, that were born on 11.04.2026 in the wild, were found dead (bodies partially eaten) by the monitoring team near the den site in Sheopur Territorial Division.”
The cubs were last observed alive during the evening of 11.05.2026. Prima facie, the incident appears to be predation by another animal. The mother cheetah is safe and healthy. Further details will be known after post-mortem examination and detailed investigation, it was further added.
At present, Kuno National Park has 50 Cheetah, including 33 Indian-born individuals, in addition to 3 cheetahs at Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary. With this, the total number of cheetahs in India stands at 53.
Nine cheetahs, including six females and three males, were translocated to Kuno National Park from Botswana in February this year. Prior to this, eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia on September 17, 2022, followed by another 12 relocated from South Africa in 2023.
(With inputs from agencies)
