Cheetah dies in Kuno Park

A 20-month-old female cheetah was found dead in the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district on Monday, a forest department official said.

The carcass of the big cat, born to African cheetah Jwala, was found at around 6.30 pm and officials suspect she died in a leopard attack.

The sub-adult cheetah, released into the wild with her mother and three siblings on February 21, had separated from her mother more than a month ago and from her siblings a few days back, Cheetah Project Field Director Uttam Sharma said in a statement.

The preliminary cause of death appears to be a fight with a leopard though the exact reason will be known after the post-mortem report is received, he added.

With this, the Kuno park now has 25 cheetahs, including nine adults (six females and three males) and 16 Indian-born. All are healthy and doing well, the director said.

Eight cheetahs -- five females and three males -- were brought from Namibia to the KNP on September 17, 2022, in the first-ever intercontinental translocation of big cats.

In February 2023, 12 more cheetahs, the fastest land animal, were translocated to the park from South Africa.