A male cheetah cub that had wandered out of Kuno National Park was killed after being hit by an unidentified vehicle on a highway in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district early Sunday, police said.

The incident occurred on the Agra–Mumbai National Highway in the Ghatigaon area, near the Shivpuri border, about 35–40 km from Gwalior, Inspector General of Police Arvind Saxena said.

The nearly 20-month-old cub had strayed from the park and become separated from its mother before the collision, he said. A member of the probe team added that police had developed leads about a car suspected of hitting the animal.

Saxena said authorities had reduced traffic and lowered speed limits on the stretch to prevent another accident, as another male cub from the same litter “might still be around.”

“The other cub is safe,” State Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Subharajan Sen said.

He said the dead cub was the offspring of Gamini, a cheetah imported from South Africa to help revive India’s big cat population, which lost the world’s fastest animal seven decades ago.

In March, cheetah Gamini and her four cubs (two male and as many females) were released in the Khajuri forest area of KNP, officials earlier said.