{"id":957310,"date":"2026-05-13T15:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/957310\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:29:25","slug":"four-cubs-born-to-countrys-1st-india-born-cheetah-found-dead-in-kuno-bhopal-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/957310\/","title":{"rendered":"Four cubs born to country\u2019s 1st India-born cheetah found dead in Kuno | Bhopal News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/unnamed-8jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Four cubs born to country\u2019s 1st India-born cheetah found dead in Kuno\" title=\"Mother cheetah KGP12 with four cubs in Kuno National Park on April 11\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Mother cheetah KGP12 with four cubs in Kuno National Park on April 11 Bhopal: Barely a month after their birth was celebrated as a historic milestone for India\u2019s cheetah restoration project, four cubs born to the country\u2019s first wild-breeding India-born cheetah were found dead near their den site in Kuno National Park in Sheopur district on Tuesday.The cubs, born on April 11 to female cheetah KGP12 in the Sheopur territorial division adjoining Kuno, were found partially consumed, by a monitoring team around 6.30 am during routine surveillance.Officials said the cubs had last been seen alive on Monday evening.Prima facie, forest officials suspect the cubs may have fallen prey to another wild animal. State chief wildlife warden Samita Rajora described it as an \u201cunfortunate incident\u201d.Sources in the forest department said preliminary postmortem findings and field evidence point towards a leopard attack. \u201cThe distance of the canine marks indicates that the cubs were likely killed by a leopard,\u201d an officer said on condition of anonymity. Officials said detailed postmortem examination and further investigation are underway.The mother cheetah was reported to be safe and healthy.The deaths come weeks after Project Cheetah celebrated what officials had described as the programme\u2019s most significant breakthrough since the reintroduction of African cheetahs to India in 2022.KGP12, a 25-month-old female born on Indian soil on March 10, 2024, was the second female cub from Gamini\u2019s first litter. Her delivery of four cubs in the wild was hailed as the first successful breeding by an India-born cheetah living freely in open forest conditions.Wildlife officials had described the birth as a key transition point for the project from intensive management to natural population establishment.\u201cThis was the benchmark of success we were waiting for \u2014 an India-born cheetah breeding in the wild,\u201d Rajora had said after the birth announcement.Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/narendra-modi\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Narendra Modi<\/a> had launched Project Cheetah on September 17, 2022, by releasing eight cheetahs from Namibia into Kuno, marking the species\u2019 return to India decades after its extinction.Union environment minister <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/bhupender-yadav\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bhupender Yadav<\/a> had called the birth of the cubs a \u201chistoric moment\u201d and said it reflected the growing adaptation of cheetahs to Indian conditions.Conservation experts had, however, cautioned that survival of newborn cubs remained the biggest challenge in the harsh central Indian landscape and predators.Officials said field teams had intensified monitoring while maintaining minimal human interference, tracking the mother and cubs through ground patrols and surveillance inputs.The identity of the cubs\u2019 father had not yet been confirmed, with officials analysing satellite collar data and movement patterns of male cheetahs in the landscape because multiple males have overlapping territories in parts of Kuno.<\/p>\n<p>Poll<\/p>\n<p>What do you think is most important for wildlife conservation projects like Project Cheetah?<\/p>\n<p>Officials said Kuno National Park currently has 50 cheetahs, including 33 India-born cheetahs, in addition to three cheetahs housed at Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. Following the deaths of the four cubs, India\u2019s total cheetah population now stands at 53.\u201cAll remaining cheetahs are healthy and doing well,\u201d the Project Cheetah field director said in an official statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mother cheetah KGP12 with four cubs in Kuno National Park on April 11 Bhopal: Barely a month after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[267289,267283,267277,267288,267295,267282,220971,267278,211917,267281,154209,267279,267280,77385,267284,76059,267293,267290,267285,267294,28597,71134,267292,70,267291,267275,267276,267287,16,15,1717,267286],"class_list":{"0":"post-957310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-african-cheetahs-reintroduction-2022","9":"tag-april-11-cheetah-birth","10":"tag-bhopal","11":"tag-bhupender-yadav","12":"tag-central-indian-landscape","13":"tag-cheetah-cubs-found-dead","14":"tag-cheetah-population-in-india","15":"tag-cheetah-restoration-project","16":"tag-conservation-experts","17":"tag-gamini","18":"tag-gandhi-sagar-wildlife-sanctuary","19":"tag-india-born-cheetah","20":"tag-kgp12","21":"tag-kuno-national-park","22":"tag-leopard-attack","23":"tag-madhya-pradesh","24":"tag-male-cheetah-territories","25":"tag-namibia-cheetahs","26":"tag-postmortem-examination","27":"tag-predator-threat-to-cubs","28":"tag-prime-minister-narendra-modi","29":"tag-project-cheetah","30":"tag-satellite-collar-data","31":"tag-science","32":"tag-september-17-2022-launch","33":"tag-sheopur-district","34":"tag-sheopur-territorial-division","35":"tag-state-chief-wildlife-warden-samita-rajora","36":"tag-uk","37":"tag-united-kingdom","38":"tag-wildlife","39":"tag-wildlife-monitoring-team"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}