A day after it stepped into the wild for the first time, a cheetah cub at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park was found dead on Friday, casting a shadow over what had been a celebratory moment for the state government.
On International Cheetah Day, chief minister Mohan Yadav had released female cheetah Veera and her two cubs into Kuno’s free-ranging area. It was meant to mark progress in India’s ongoing cheetah reintroduction programme.
But within hours, park officials said, one of the cubs got separated from its mother and sibling during the night. The next afternoon, forest staff discovered its body.
“One of Veera’s cubs, aged around 10 months, was found dead in the forest on Friday afternoon,” a forest official said. The cause of death is awaiting confirmation from the autopsy report.
Officials added that Veera and her remaining cub were together and in stable condition.
With this, Kuno’s cheetah population stands at 28, eight adults (five females and three males) and 20 India-born cubs. All surviving cheetahs are reported to be in good health, the official said.