Four cheetah cubs born to female cheetah KGP-12 were found dead at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district on Tuesday, 13 May 2025, in a fresh setback for India's cheetah reintroduction programme. Forest officials suspect the cubs were killed by a wild predator, with post-mortem examinations ordered to confirm the exact cause of death.

How the Deaths Were Discovered

A routine monitoring team discovered the bodies near the den site during scheduled tracking in the Sheopur forest area. The Cheetah Field Director at Kuno confirmed the find, noting that the same team had observed all four cubs alive on Monday evening, making the deaths sudden and unexpected. The cubs, born on 11 April 2025, were approximately one month old at the time of death.

Evidence Points to Predator Attack

The Field Director of Project Cheetah stated in an official release that the cubs' bodies were partially eaten, strongly suggesting an attack by a carnivorous animal. The exact cause of death will be confirmed only after post-mortem reports are received, the statement said. Kuno's habitat is shared with leopards, hyenas, and jackals, all of which pose a lethal threat to newborn cubs unable to defend themselves.

Mother Safe; Surveillance Intensified

The mother, KGP-12, is reported to be safe and healthy and remains under close watch by forest staff. Following the incident, surveillance and patrolling in the area have been intensified, and monitoring teams have stepped up vigilance around other cheetahs and cubs across the park. Forest officials acknowledged that protecting newborn cubs in open forest terrain remains one of the project's toughest challenges.

Cheetah Count and Project Background

With the death of the four cubs, Kuno National Park now has 50 cheetahs, of which 33 were born in India under the captive breeding programme. An additional three cheetahs are currently at Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, bringing India's total cheetah population to 53. Notably, the incident occurred just a day after Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released two female cheetahs into the wild at Kuno as part of efforts to expand the free-ranging cheetah population. India launched Project Cheetah in September 2022, more than seven decades after the species went extinct in the country in 1952, with the first batch brought from Namibia and a second cohort from South Africa. This latest loss underscores the ecological complexity of re-establishing a large predator in a landscape already occupied by competing carnivores.