Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Samita Rajora said that the cubs’ bodies were found to have signs of a leopard attack during post-mortem. File image used for illustration only | Photo credit: ANI
Four cheetah cubs born in April were found dead in Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district on Tuesday (May 12, 2026), officials said, suspecting that they may have fallen prey to a leopard in the wild.
According to officials, the half-eaten carcasses of the month-old cubs were found around 6.30 am by a monitoring team near the den in Sheopur territorial division. The litter was born to female cheetah KGP12 on April 11 in the wild.
“Mother cheetahs are safe”
“The cubs were last seen alive during the evening of May 11. Prima facie, the incident appears to have been a predation by another animal. The mother cheetah is safe and sound. Further details will be known after post-mortem and detailed investigation,” Kuno Field Director and Cheetah Project Director Uttam Kumar Sharma said in a statement.
The deaths are significant because the four cubs were the first to be born in open forest since India’s Project Cheetah reintroduction program for the big cat species began in 2022, as all previous births had taken place in Kuno’s vast enclosures. The litter brought India’s cheetah population to 57.
Investigation underway: official
Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) Samita Rajora told The Hindu that marks of a leopard attack were found on their bodies during post-mortem and that the incident is under thorough investigation.
“It is a leopard-rich area where the mother and cubs ventured soon after they were born. The cubs have now also started migrating and seem to have encountered an inappropriate interaction with the leopard,” Ms Rajora said, adding that the female was a primiparous mother.
“It was her first encounter with a leopard and that too in a fairly new territory. She might have been trying to protect her cubs but she couldn’t,” the official said.
Ms. Rajora added that the mother cheetah did not suffer any injuries and will remain in the wild for now.
“Although this is an obstacle for her and for us, it is also a natural process of nature. We are sure that she will learn from this and give birth to more children in the future. And next time, we believe that she will be ready,” said the chief conservationist.
Ms. Rajora emphasized that such conflicts are one of the main challenges of the Cheetah Project given the increasing density of cheetahs.
This is the largest number of cheetah deaths in Kuno in a single case where several cubs have been born in recent months.
“We learn to adapt”
“While we take steps to protect them, it’s also important that they learn to adapt in the wild on their own,” she said.
In early December last year, two cubs from the national park died when one of them was hit by a vehicle while crossing the Agra Mumbai National Highway (NH-46) in Gwalior district. The other fell down the hill.
With the latest deaths, the country’s total cheetah population has dropped to 53, with 50 of them, including 33 individuals born in India, in Kuno. Besides, there are three cheetahs in Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Mandsaur and Neemuch districts.
Earlier, on May 11, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released two cheetahs from a batch of nine relocated from Botswana in February into the open forest. The nine big cats were earlier released into extensive enclosures after completing a mandatory month-long quarantine.
Published – 12 May 2026 22:55 IST
