Fractured bones to amputations: How Kuno’s now-thriving cheetah programme was kept alive

Kuno director Uttam Sharma said that all injured cheetahs recovered. “All are safe and healthy. Mukhi and her five cubs, too. Our team of veterinarians and other health staff have become very experienced in rehabilitation, and we don’t require any additional staff for this,” Sharma told The Indian Express.

On November 29, 2023, Mukhi was seen limping by field teams. X-ray confirmed a “complete diaphyseal fracture at the proximal third of the humerus”. The cheetah weighed 20 kilograms at the time.

Veterinarians applied a Robert Jones bandage for external immobilisation, administered anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antibiotic injections, and placed the animal on a diet supplemented with calcium and multivitamins. Its young age worked in the team’s favour.

Then, on December 10, a follow-up examination complicated things. The fracture segments were displaced and overridden. On the same limb, the team found a compound wound with maggots. The bandage had been mutilated, likely by Mukhi, leaving the skin exposed. The team cleaned the wound with turpentine oil, applied an antiseptic dressing, replaced the original bandage with a cohesive body cast, and placed it in a restricted enclosure under close observation.

On February 10, 2024, the X-rays came back clean, and Mukhi was declared fit.

On June 26, 2023, field teams observed a fight between the Gaurav-Shaurya and Agni-Vayu coalitions. By evening, South African cheetah Agni was limping. It was found to have “multiple puncture wounds across the body, two major lacerations, one on the left shoulder, one on the right inner thigh”, and a “complete transverse fracture of the fourth metacarpal in his left forelimb”. The fourth metatarsal on the right side was fractured as well.

The fractures healed within five to six weeks, and Agni regained normal movement.

Three months later, on October 3, it was found with a “wound on the distal portion of his tail”. Tissue damage was extensive enough to require amputation.

Surgery was performed under general anaesthesia. A U-shaped flap was constructed, vessels ligated, and the tail disarticulated from the intervertebral space above the fracture site. Periodic antiseptic dressing, analgesics, and long-acting antibiotics followed, until a full recovery was made.

Agni was released back with his coalition partner, Vayu.

Female cheetah Nirva, a South African animal approximately 3.5 years old and weighing 47 kilograms, was found “limping on her left forelimb on August 13, 2023”. No cause was established.

What began as a paw injury became the project’s longest and most technically demanding veterinary case. Initial examination found a wound on the foot pad. Antiseptic dressing was applied, and Nirva was moved into a quarantine boma, but the wound would not close.

It was examined again on September 18, October 3, and October 18. By the last of those visits, veterinarians found exuberant granulation tissue covering the distal and middle phalanges of the fourth digit. On October 26, a portable digital radiography system revealed osteomyelitis (bone infection). The decision was made to operate.

Under general anaesthesia, surgeons made a “dorsal incision distal to the fourth metacarpophalangeal joint, separated the tendons, ligated the blood vessels, and disarticulated the digit entirely”.

On November 12, the exposed bone had recovered with no infection, two retention sutures were placed to oppose the wound edges, and antibiotics and supportive therapy continued.

On December 25, 2023, a full X-ray showed normal contours throughout the digits and thoracic cavity. Complete wound healing with normal hair regrowth was observed at the amputation site. Nirva was found fit for release.

On June 1, 2024, Nabha, a Namibian female around six-and-a-half years old at the time, was seen with facial swelling. Initial symptoms resembled feline calicivirus infection. Supportive care was provided in the form of fluids, antibiotics, and mist spray to manage body temperature through the summer heat.

On June 18, it was immobilised again. This time, a “carnassial tooth abscess was found with a dental fistula in the left mandibular region”. Veterinarians gave the animal antibiotics, multivitamins and fluid therapy, helping it make a recovery.

On October 8, 2024, Aasha, a seven-year-old Namibian female, was found limping. It was nursing three ten-month-old cubs at the time.

Clinical examination revealed a “broken dew claw and a maggot wound on the palmar surface at the carpometacarpal region of the left paw”. Maggots were removed manually with turpentine oil, followed by surgical debridement, antiseptic irrigation, and medication.

By October 29, the wound was clean. Long-acting antibiotics, analgesics, multivitamins, a nervine tonic, and fluids were administered, helping it get back to health.