Sheopur: KGP11, a 27-month-old female cheetah born in India under the country’s ambitious cheetah reintroduction programme, died during treatment at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Saturday, officials said.
The cheetah had been battling serious injuries after being found in distress in the Pahadgarh area of Morena district on June 1. She was rescued by forest officials and transferred to the Palpur veterinary facility within Kuno National Park, where she remained under intensive medical care for 5 days.
Confirming the death, Kuno National Park (KNP) director Uttam Sharma said, “Despite all efforts by the veterinary and field teams, it succumbed to injuries this evening. A post-mortem examination would be conducted on June 7 to determine the exact cause of death.”
Authorities said veterinarians and wildlife experts made sustained efforts to save the animal, but her condition failed to improve.
“KGP11 died during treatment on Saturday evening. A post-mortem examination will be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death,” Sharma added.
Preliminary reports had indicated internal haemorrhaging, while officials were also examining the possibility of injuries sustained during a conflict with another wild animal.
KGP11 was among the growing number of cheetahs born in India after the launch of Project Cheetah. She had been released into the wild in March 2025 and had been roaming freely in the Kuno landscape for more than a year before she was found injured earlier this month.
Her death comes at a time when Kuno has witnessed both milestones and setbacks in the conservation programme.
Last month, four cubs born to India-born female cheetah KGP12 were found dead near their den site, barely a month after their birth was celebrated as the first successful wild breeding by an India-born cheetah.
Following KGP11’s death, the cheetah population at Kuno National Park has come down to 49, including 32 India-born animals. Of these, 19 are currently roaming free in the wild, while the remaining are housed in enclosures and monitored zones. Officials said all remaining cheetahs are healthy and under continuous surveillance.
With three cheetahs currently housed at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, the total number of cheetahs in India now stands at 52.
The cheetah reintroduction programme began in September 2022 with the translocation of African cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa, marking the return of the species to India after it went extinct in the country more than 7 decades ago.
(IANS)
