Sheopur:

Two cubs born to African cheetah Neerva were found dead and their mutilated carcasses were recovered at the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday, an official said.

A team of forest staffers monitoring the movement of cheetahs received signals through radio telemetry that Neerva was away from her den, following which they along with veterinarians rushed to the spot and found the mutilated carcasses of the two cubs inside, he said.

After inspecting all possible places inside the boma (enclosure), they concluded that no proof was found about the existence of any more cheetah cubs there, the official said.

“No other cheetah cubs were found inside the boma during the inspection, which reflects that Neerva gave birth to only two cubs. The carcasses of the two newborns will be cremated on Thursday as per norms,” Project Cheetah Director Uttam Kumar Sharma said.

The samples from the dead cubs were collected and sent for examination and the exact cause of their death will be known only after getting the lab report, the official said.

All adult cheetahs, including Neerva, and the rest of the 12 cubs at the Kuno park are healthy, the official said. With 12 of those cubs surviving, the count of cheetahs at KNP was last reported to be 24.

Confusion prevailed on Monday over the exact number of cubs that Neerva gave birth to. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav initially shared on social media that she delivered four cubs, but later deleted the post and said the forest department would confirm the exact number of the newborns.

In a new post that evening, Yadav wrote, “Today the Cheetah Project has achieved a major milestone. In Cheetah State Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, a female Cheetah Neerva has given birth to cubs. The Forest Department will soon confirm the number of cubs.” In September 2022, eight Namibian cheetahs – five females and three males – were released into enclosures at the KNP as part of the world’s first intercontinental translocation of the big cats, seven decades after they became extinct in India due to hunting and habitat loss.

In February 2023, a dozen more cheetahs were translocated to the national park from South Africa as part of the Centre’s project to reintroduce the big cats in the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)