Cheetah found injured near Kuno National Park; what a wide-angled probe aims to find

The probe will also cover the poaching angle as remains of hunted leopards were reported from the same area in Madhya Pradesh's Morena districtMorena district in Madhya Pradesh has reported a critically injured cheetah, raising the spectre of this being the first probable case of man-animal conflict involving the wild cat since its reintroduction in India beginning September 2022.On October 25, a male cheetah, about 19 months old, was found injured near Pahadgadh in the district. While an inquiry covering various angles is on, sources suggest the injury may have been inflicted on the animal with a hard and blunt object. The forest department has dispatched the State Tiger Strike Force to probe the matter from the poaching angle.On the evening of October 25, a monitoring team in charge of three cheetahs—including a male and one of the cubs of Nirva, a female cheetah brought from South Africa in February 2023—found one of the wild cats injured and immobile. The cheetah was located in the jungles near Pahadgadh. The animal was rescued the same night and brought to the nearby Kuno National Park for treatment.Sources said the cheetah is unable to walk and in critical condition. It prima facie appears to have suffered a backbone injury inflicted by a hard and blunt object. Officials said the cheetah also has an external injury. A few weeks ago, remains of poached leopards had been reported from the same area. Given this, the forest department is not ruling out a poaching angle to the cheetah’s injuries. Another angle being probed is whether the cheetah had attacked livestock and was targeted by villagers.India has 60 cheetahs presently, spread over three locations in Madhya Pradesh. Kuno National Park, the ground zero of Project Cheetah, houses most of the wild cats. A few cheetahs have recently been shifted to the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and the Rani Durgawati Tiger Reserve in order to spread the cheetah habitat.“We have sent the State Tiger Strike Force to look into the matter. This is the same area where two leopards were hunted,” said Samita Rajora, chief wildlife warden, Madhya Pradesh.Medical scans are now scheduled to further ascertain the nature of the cheetah’s injuries and how it may have suffered them. The area where the cheetah was found by the monitoring team lies outside Kuno National Park. The monitoring team usually maintains a minimum distance of 500 metres when tracking these radio-collared wild cats.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends