The only Namibian cheetah to survive in the wild of Kuno National Park in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh was found dead on Tuesday morning. Authorities believe the cause of death was drowning.
The cheetah named Pawan was found lying on the edge of a flooded stream at around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
“The preliminary cause of death appears to be drowning. Further details will be provided once the postmortem report is available,” said Uttam Sharma, field director of Kuno National Park.
A closer examination by veterinarians revealed that the front half of the cheetah’s carcass, including the head, was in the water. There were no external injuries visible anywhere on the body, Sharma said in the statement released after the death.
An official from MP’s forest department said, “He was the only cheetah in the wild. His location was regularly tracked. The tracking team was alerted on Tuesday when he did not move. The team found him dead.”
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This is the second cheetah death in August. On August 5, a cub of the cheetah Gamini died in the enclosure. There are now 24 cheetahs living in the park, including 12 adults and just as many cubs.
Pawan was the father of at least seven of the 16 boys born in Kuno in the last year and a half.
Six-year-old Pawan had explored the 300 km long forest in Sheopur, Shivpuri, Guna and Morena districts since his release a year ago and had avoided an encounter with a tiger for over a week in Madhav National Park in 2023.
A senior forest officer associated with the Cheetah Project said, “Pawan was an example of successful translocation of cheetahs from Namibia to India. His death comes as a shock to us.”
Environmental activist Ajay Dubey said: “Cheetahs can swim, so it is not possible that Pawan drowned, for example in a drain. The forest department should ascertain the cause of death.”
