First cheetah shot dead since Project Cheetah began: Kuno cub KNG22 dies; Centre sends NTCA-WCCB team
Key facts
- A 19-month-old male cheetah, KNG22, born in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, died on 27 October 2026 from firearm pellet injuries.
- It was found injured on 25 October in Morena territorial forest, outside Kuno. Surgeons in Jabalpur removed five pellets from its body.
- The Indian Express reports it as the first cheetah killed by gunfire in India since Project Cheetah began in September 2022.
- On 28 October, the Environment Ministry deputed NTCA and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau officers to investigate. Madhya Pradesh has formed a Special Task Force.
- The state forest department puts India's cheetah count at 58: 52 in Kuno, 4 in Gandhi Sagar and 2 in Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve.
Why it matters
[First] Project Cheetah began on 17 September 2022, when eight cheetahs from Namibia reached Kuno. Until now, deaths came from illness, injuries or fights between animals. This is the first time a reintroduced cheetah has been shot. The cub was radio-collared, yet it was hit in a territorial forest where several forest divisions share the duty of protection. That is the real lesson: cheetahs now roam far beyond the park, and poaching networks already operate in the Kuno-Morena-Sheopur belt. Exam hooks are Project Cheetah, the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. (Also: Indian Express, 27 October 2026.)
Asked before: CDS (I) 2023 asked to which National Park the cheetahs brought from Namibia were introduced.