Guwahati: A 19-month-old male cheetah cub at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park has died after being found with multiple metal pellets lodged in its abdomen in a suspected shooting, forest department sources said.

The cub, one of the offspring of cheetah Nirva, was rescued on the night of October 25 from a forest area in Morena district bordering Sheopur and shifted to Jabalpur for advanced medical treatment. Its death has raised concerns over the safety of cheetahs moving beyond protected areas.

The incident, if confirmed as a shooting, would be the first reported suspected case of a cheetah being shot since the species was reintroduced in India in September 2022 under Project Cheetah.

Three or four metal pellets were reportedly detected in the cub’s abdominal cavity. Investigators are examining the type of weapon used and the circumstances in which the animal sustained the injuries. No suspect has been identified, and the motive remains unclear.

The cub was found injured by a monitoring team on the evening of October 25 while ranging in the territorial forest division of Morena, which borders Sheopur district. It was rescued overnight and taken to Kuno for an initial medical examination before being shifted to a facility in Jabalpur for further treatment.

The Special Tiger Strike Force (STSF), a specialised wildlife protection unit, has been deployed in the area. The forest department is also seeking assistance from the state police’s Special Task Force to identify those responsible, officials said.

Investigators are examining whether the animal was shot with a traditional bharmar, a muzzle-loading firearm, or a country-made 12-bore gun. A forensic and ballistic examination is expected to help establish the type of weapon used.

Some officials suspect the shooter may have fired in panic after encountering the young cheetah in the forest, possibly mistaking it for a leopard. However, this remains unconfirmed.

In a statement, Kuno authorities said an investigation was underway to establish the cause of the injuries and that all possible angles were being examined. The statement, issued by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of the Cheetah Project, did not explicitly mention a shooting.

State Chief Wildlife Warden Samita Rajora had earlier said the case was being investigated from all angles and that it was too early to comment on the cause of the injuries.

The incident has renewed concerns about threats to cheetahs when they move beyond protected areas. Project Cheetah’s first action plan had flagged the prevalence of bushmeat consumption and the possession of country-made firearms, bows, arrows and other hunting tools in the region.

Poaching has been a longstanding concern in the landscape around Kuno. In April 2022, months before the first cheetahs arrived from Namibia, a leopard was killed by poachers in the park’s buffer zone.

Deer poaching has also been reported in surrounding areas. Forest officials have previously suspected hunting groups of entering protected areas and removing camera traps to avoid detection.

Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952. Their return is the centrepiece of Project Cheetah, launched in 2022, under which animals were brought from Africa to Kuno as part of an effort to re-establish the species in the country.