Bengaluru: Park authorities found an injured male juvenile cheetah in the Morena forest division outside Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park on Sunday (October 25) evening. They rescued the animal and it is currently being treated by veterinarians at the Park. Local wildlife activists have alleged that the cheetah was injured by poachers. The Forest Department, meanwhile, says it is ‘examining all possibilities’.Injured by poachers, activists allegeThe injured cheetah is 19-months-old, and is one of the cubs of female cheetah Nirva which was brought in from South Africa in February 2023.“One of Nirva’s 19-month-old male cubs, ranging in the wild near the Morena Territorial Forest Division, was found injured by the monitoring team on the evening of 25 October 2026. He was rescued during the night and brought to Kuno for medical examination and treatment,” the field director of Kuno National Park, Uttam Kumar Singh, said in a statement on the night of October 26. The male cheetah’s injuries, including multiple broken spinal vertebrae, suggest that the animal was hit multiple times with a blunt object, wildlife activist Ajay Dubey told The Wire. This used to be the modus operandi of poachers such as the notorious Sansar Chand who used this method to poach tigers in Rajasthan’s Sariska Tiger Reserve, Dubey said. They did this so as to not damage the skin of the poached animals which they later sold for illegal international wildlife trade, Dubey said.FD Cheetah Project & DFO Kuno FAILED to protect Cheetah!MP CWLW now sends Special Team to Kuno, Sheopur after poacher attack — Cheetah critical.I flagged radio-collared leopards poaching, demanded action — kuno park https://t.co/ShFVXnaxYL fear came true, now Cheetah attacked.Accountability must be fixed!#KunoCheetahAttack @PMOIndia @CMMadhyaPradesh @ntca_india @moefcc @WCCBHQ @KVSinghMPGonda @DGP_MP— Ajay Dubey (@Ajaydubey9) October 26, 2026There is an active poaching ring operating in the area, as the recent seizure of ten leopard skins that were traced to Madhya Pradesh showed, Dubey added. The official statement from the Park, however, is mum about the possibility of the cheetah being injured in a poaching attack. It said that “all possible angles” are being examined:“The cheetah is currently undergoing treatment for the injuries sustained. An investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of the injuries. At this stage, all possible angles are being examined, regarding the circumstances leading to the condition of the Cheetah,” the statement said.‘Failure of park management’The State Tiger Strike Force (STSF) is now looking into the incident and has begun an inquiry, reported The Print. Morena was “a sensitive zone” and this was where authorities found 10 dead leopards and busted a poaching racket a few months ago, The Print quoted Samita Rajora, the Madhya Pradesh chief wildlife warden as saying. Per the report, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Morena, the chief conservator of forests of Gwalior, and the DFO of Sheopur, along with the STSF sent from Bhopal, are investigating the case together.Dubey told The Wire that the incident was a clear case of the failure of the park management and monitoring teams in protecting cheetahs as they free-ranged in the wild. He said that villagers had discovered the injured cheetah and informed the park authorities who later came in and took the animal away for treatment. “Its injuries are very grave and the animal is unlikely to survive,” Dubey said. “Where was the monitoring team then? How could they have let this happen if they are, as they claim, monitoring the cheetahs throughout?”