Project Cheetah cub found injured outside Kuno dies of pellet injuries
A radio-collared cheetah cub from Kuno National Park died of pellet injuries on 26 October 2026, a day after it was found wounded in a forest of Madhya Pradesh's Morena district, outside the park. It is the first such killing reported since cheetahs were reintroduced. Madhya Pradesh's State Tiger Strike Force is investigating.
Syllabus: Prelims · Environment & Ecology; GS3 · Environment & Conservation
Why this matters for UPSC
GS3 conservation and GS2 governance: Prelims can ask about Project Cheetah's sites, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the NTCA; Mains, about protecting reintroduced animals once they leave a protected area.
Why it matters
Protection around Kuno now rests as much on territorial forest divisions as on the park's own staff. Cheetahs do not respect boundaries: as they grow, young animals leave the park and walk into farmland, ravines and villages where guns and snares are present. The project's success depends on these animals moving safely between sites to form one linked population. If they are shot once outside, every new release becomes riskier, local trust can sour, and the plan to spread cheetahs across central India stalls. The case tests whether forest divisions, police and villagers can share one protection system.
Prelims pointers
- Section 9 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2022, bars hunting of wild animals specified in Schedules I and II.
- Section 51(1), amended in 2022, lifts the ceiling on the general fine for offences to one lakh rupees from 25,000 rupees.
- The NTCA is chaired by the Union Minister in charge of Environment and Forests, as section 38L(2) provides.
- Kuno National Park lies in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh; the perennial Kuno river flows through it.
- The cheetah is the only large carnivore that went extinct in independent India, per the NTCA.
- The cheetahs brought to Kuno are African cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus); the Asiatic subspecies was sought from Iran in the 1970s.
- The 2021 Action Plan called the Shahgarh area in Rajasthan the largest potential cheetah habitat in the country, then without legal protection under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, consider the following statements:
1. After the 2022 amendment, section 9 bars the hunting of wild animals specified in Schedules I, II, III and IV.
2. The bar on hunting a scheduled wild animal applies outside national parks and sanctuaries as well.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 only
Answer: (b) 2 only. The 2022 amendment narrowed section 9 to two Schedules, and its bar is not tied to any protected area.
Statement 1: incorrect. The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill as passed in 2022 replaced "Schedules I, II, III and IV" in section 9 with "Schedules I and II".
Statement 2: correct. Section 9 forbids hunting a scheduled wild animal with no limit to any protected area; the Act outlawed hunting of wild animals across India, and section 51 adds a higher penalty for offences inside a sanctuary or National Park.
Eliminate: statement 1 names the old four Schedules, so it is wrong. Out: (a), (c).
Eliminate: statement 2 holds because section 9 has no area limit. Out: (d).
Trap: Outdated fact. Statement 1 gives the list of Schedules that section 9 named before the 2022 amendment.
Remember: protection under the Act follows the species, not the park boundary.
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