An Indian-born female cheetah died on Saturday died while undergoing treatment at a veterinary facility in Palpur in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

The 27-month-old cheetah, officially named KGP11, was found injured near the Pahargarh area of the Morena district on June 1. It was then taken to the veterinary facility at Palpur within the national park for treatment.

“Despite all efforts by the veterinary and field teams, it succumbed to injuries this evening,” Cheetah Project Field Director Uttam Sharma said in a press release. “Post-mortem examination will be conducted tomorrow on 7th June. The exact cause of death will be known after the post-mortem examination report is received.”

This was the 23rd death of a cheetah in India since the animals were reintroduced in the country.

There are now a total of 52 cheetahs in India, of whom 49 are in the Kuno National Park and three are in the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary.

Of the cheetahs in the Kuno National Park, 32 are Indian-born ones. “Out of these, 19 cheetahs are currently ranging freely in the wild,” the field director said. “All remaining cheetahs are healthy and doing well.”

In September 2022, cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa were reintroduced to India seven decades after the species was declared extinct in the country.

The cheetah had been officially declared extinct by the Indian government in 1952. Before their reintroduction, the wild cats were last recorded in the country in 1948, when three cheetahs were shot in the sal forests in Chhattisgarh’s Koriya District.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

Also read: India’s male cheetahs are wandering far beyond Kuno, raising questions about rewilding project