Madhya Pradesh cheetah death: Five firearm pellets recovered from KNG22
A 19-month-old male cheetah cub named KNG22 has died in India's Madhya Pradesh forest after being shot with firearm pellets. This marks the first reported killing of a cheetah in India since the species was reintroduced in 2022.
Why it matters
The incident highlights significant security and conservation challenges for India's ambitious cheetah reintroduction project.
In what is believed to be the first reported killing of a cheetah in India since the species was reintroduced in 2022, a 19-month-old male cub died early Tuesday after being found critically injured in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena forest division, with five firearm pellets recovered from its body during surgery.The last recorded killing of cheetahs in India dates back to 1947, when Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya, in present-day Chhattisgarh, shot dead the country’s last three remaining Asiatic cheetahs.The cub, identified as KNG22, was rescued from Compartment No. 748 of the forest division and initially examined through an X-ray, which revealed multiple foreign bodies at different locations inside its body.
Headlinne story · 5 newsrooms
Nineteen-Month-Old Cheetah Cub Dies in India After Being Shot
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4 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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