Another Adult Cheetah, Pavan, Dies in Kuno

New Delhi: Pavan, the sole cheetah that was roaming the wild in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, is now dead.

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Authorities reportedly found the cheetah dead on the morning of Tuesday (August 27), according to a statement issued by the additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) in Madhya Pradesh’s forest department.

Per the statement accessed by The Wire, Pavan was found lying motionless near the bank of a “nala” or stream.

“The nala was running full due to rains,” the statement read.

Detailed inspection by veterinarians showed that the front half of the cheetah’s body, including its head, was immersed in water, prompting authorities to conclude that the preliminary cause of the cheetah’s death appeared to be drowning.

A detailed post-mortem, however, will be conducted to confirm this preliminary analysis, per the statement.

The news of the cheetah’s death comes just as the Cheetah Project Steering Committee announced last week that authorities would soon release all cheetahs and cubs, which are all currently captive and held in fenced enclosures in the Park, in a phased manner once the monsoon retreats from the area.

Pavan is the eighth adult cheetah (of 20 that were brought to India) to die in Kuno National Park, the location of the ambitious Project Cheetah, which aims to introduce African cheetahs into select grassland habitats in central India.

Pavan (aka Oban) was one of the eight adults brought in from Namibia on the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17, 2022.

Pavan was released along with other cheetahs but was brought back to Kuno’s cheetah enclosures twice because it ventured close to the Uttar Pradesh border, around 300 km away from Kuno.

Authorities then released the animal again in early July.

They again recaptured it on July 14 and brought it back to the enclosure for health checks and treatment after some cheetahs were spotted with maggot-ridden wounds on their backs and necks.

Wildlife veterinarian Adrian Tordiffe had then told The Wire that Pavan also had maggot-infested wounds and that his symptoms were “identical” to those of one of the cheetahs that died earlier that month due to septicaemia.

In December 2023, authorities released Pavan again in the wild in Kuno.

With Pavan’s death on Tuesday, the number of cheetahs in India as part of Project Cheetah has now reduced to 24: 12 adults and 12 cubs from three litters.

Pavan, per one report, is also the father of two of the litters, one each born to cheetahs Aasha and Jwala.

The last cheetah death, which occurred on August 5, was of a five-month old cub born to cheetah Gamini in March this year. The last adult cheetah to die was a male named Shaurya (aka Freddie) on January 16. The male, also from Namibia, died in its fenced enclosure due a “weakness” as per officials, despite receiving treatment.