New Delhi: An eight-month-old cheetah, one of the five cubs born to Namibian cheetah Asha, was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Monday afternoon. The cause of death is unknown, and the cub’s body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, according to park officials.
With this, seven cheetahs have now died in India this year, bringing the total number of cheetahs in the country down to 59. On 21 September, Namibian cheetah Gaurav died due to an underlying chronic condition after being found dehydrated and weak. Earlier, in June, an Indian-born female cheetah, KGP-11, died after succumbing to injuries sustained in Morena district. In May, four cheetah cubs were found dead and partially eaten a month after their birth.
The latest death comes after Bhopal-based activist Ajay Dubey was denied access to post-mortem reports of all cheetahs that have died in India since the project began in 2022. On 9 October, his request under the Right to Information (RTI) Act was rejected, citing ‘national security concerns’.
In a press release, Dubey questioned how the birth or death of an animal could ‘affect the sovereignty and integrity of India’, the grounds cited under Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act for exempting certain information from disclosure. He had also sought details of all foreign trips undertaken by government officials in connection with Project Cheetah, but was told that the information did not exist.
The dead cub was part of Asha’s second litter, born in February 2026. On Monday morning, forest officials noticed during their daily monitoring exercises that Asha had only four of her five cubs with her, prompting a search. The missing cub’s body was found after an extensive search, but park officials have not yet disclosed the circumstances in which it was found.
Of the 59 cheetahs in India, 53 are in Kuno National Park, four in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and two in Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve. Of the 53 cheetahs in Kuno, 40 were born in India. However, only 15 are currently free-ranging in the wild, while the rest remain in soft-release bomas and enclosures.
This year, India also received nine cheetahs translocated from Botswana, which were released in Kuno and Gandhi Sagar national parks.
Even as the Cheetah Translocation Project continues to receive praise and attention from the country’s leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav, it has also faced criticism over the number of cheetah deaths and the lack of transparency surrounding post-mortem reports and other details about the project.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)