NEW DELHI, Oct. 28, 2026 —

India's national government has sent a high-level team to investigate the death of a 19-month-old male cheetah from Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh state, after five firearm pellets were found in its body, according to a release from India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Wednesday.

What the ministry says happened

  • The cheetah, known as KNG22, is the offspring of a cheetah named Nirva, the ministry says.
  • It was found injured on Oct. 25 in forests near Morena, outside the protected area of Kuno National Park, and was rescued the same day, according to the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department as cited by the ministry.
  • It received intensive veterinary care and emergency surgery in Jabalpur, where five pellets were recovered. It died on Oct. 27.

The investigation

The ministry says the national team includes the Inspector General of Forests from the National Tiger Conservation Authority and two officials from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. It will work with Madhya Pradesh's forest department, which has already formed a special task force of forest and police officers.

The ministry says the team will also review security protocols and monitoring "to avoid any such incident in future" and report its findings to the ministry. The release doesn't name any suspects.

Those are the facts, directly from the source.

Source: India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, via the Press Information Bureau, Oct. 28, 2026.

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