A 19-month-old cheetah, one of the cheetahs brought to India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious cheetah rehabilitation project, has died after being hit by bullet fragments.
During the operation, five bullet pellets were removed from the body of 19-month-old male cub KNG22 of the female cheetah Nirva of Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park.
After this incident, the central government has sent a high level team to investigate the matter.
According to PIB, this team includes the Inspector General of Forests of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Additional Director of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Regional Deputy Director of the Bureau.
The Madhya Pradesh government has also constituted a special investigation team of forest and police officials.
This incident has happened at a time when under the project of rehabilitating cheetahs in India, initiatives on their conservation and monitoring along with increasing their numbers were started from the year 2022.
Dr Sameeta Rajoura, Madhya Pradesh's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, told the BBC: "KNG22 was found injured in the area of compartment number 748 of Sheopur Territorial Forest Division on October 25. We tried our best to save him."
According to Rajoura, "In the initial X-ray, many foreign objects were seen in different parts of the cheetah's body. After this, its treatment was started. After consultation with experts, the injured cheetah was sent to the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology of Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Sciences University, Jabalpur. There, five firearm pellets i.e. gun pellets were removed from the cheetah's body."
Rajoura told BBC News Hindi that investigation is being done on many aspects.
He said, "Look, that area is already sensitive. Some time back, an incident of leopard hunting had come to light there. So whether it was a leopard poaching or a villager did it to protect his animals is also a matter of investigation."
According to Rajoura, there is a monitoring team behind every leopard which continuously keeps an eye on the leopard with the signal of radio collar. The investigation team will also investigate why the monitoring team did not hear the gunshot and whether there was any mistake in tracking the radio caller's signal.
On October 28, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informed about sending a high-level team to investigate this matter.
This team will investigate the circumstances of the incident, examine the available evidence and recommend action in coordination with the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department.
The central government has said that the team will submit its investigation and recommendations to the ministry, based on which further instructions can be decided for the state government and concerned authorities.
Madhya Pradesh's wildlife activist Ajay Dubey has raised questions on the Forest Department's arrangements in this matter.
Speaking to the BBC, he said, "How did the poachers get the location of the radio-collared cheetah and where was the team responsible for monitoring it?"
Dubey alleged, "In the past, cases related to leopard hunting had come to light in the area, but lessons were not learned from these incidents."
According to Dubey, even after the inter-state poaching gangs are caught in this extensive forest area in 2025 and 2026, questions remain on the security arrangements.
The forests around Kuno, Sheopur and Morena have in the past also been at the center of investigations related to alleged poaching of leopards.
According to reports that surfaced earlier this year, an alleged network related to the killing of leopards and trafficking of their parts in the area was investigated. There were reports of many people being arrested in this connection.
“The priority right now should be to find out what kind of weapon was used to injure the leopard, who fired the bullet and whether it was a deliberate attack,” said a senior forest department official on condition of anonymity.
According to the Forest Department, after the death of KNG22, the total number of cheetahs in India has come down to 58. Of these, 52 are in Kuno National Park, four in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and two in Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve.
The project to rehabilitate cheetahs in India began in September 2022, when eight cheetahs were brought from Namibia. After this, 12 more cheetahs were brought from South Africa in February 2023.
