Madhya Pradesh: Project Cheetah Expands To 3rd Habitat To Build Metapopulation

The proposed expansion of the project envisages establishment of a new home (third) for the cheetahs in the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Narasinghpur district in Madhya Pradesh, besides increasing the cheetah population in the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur district in the state, the second home of the wild animal species after the KNP.

“The next phase of expansion of the Cheetah Project, which is coming in a couple of months, is very significant for creating a viable cheetah population in the country since it will help establish regional meta populations”, a senior forest officer told this newspaper here on Sunday, requesting not to be quoted.

A female cheetah from the KNP is scheduled to be released in the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary next month, the forest officer disclosed.

With this, the cheetah population in the sanctuary will increase to four.

Three cheetahs, two males and one female, were shifted from the KNP and released in the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in two batches over the last one and half years.

A significant development in the project is in the offing in the coming one and half months with creation of a new home, the third one, for the cheetahs in the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve.

Four cheetahs, two females and two males, are going to be shifted from the KNP and released in the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in the coming one and half months, establishing it as the third home of cheetahs in Madhya Pradesh, the forest officer said.

The KNP, the first home of cheetahs in India, currently houses 49 cheetahs including 15 males, an equal number of females and 19 cubs.

Of them, 17 cheetahs including ten males and seven females are in the wild in the KNP.

All the 49 cheetahs in the KNP including those in the wild are satellite-collared.

“The monitoring of 17 satellite-collared cheetahs in the wild round-the-clock has no parallel in the global wildlife conservation. Some of them are roaming freely in five-six districts while being monitored and followed by the cheetah rescue teams constantly. This is no mean achievement of the cheetah conservation staff of the KNP”, another senior forest officer involved in the project said.

The Project Cheetah involving intercontinental translocation of African cheetahs for reintroduction in the KNP is a wildlife conservation experiment of its kind in the world, the forest officer said.

Eight cheetahs from Namibia were shifted in the first ever intercontinental translocation of carnivores to the KNP on September 17, 2022.

Six months later, 12 cheetahs from South Africa were shifted to the KNP.

Nine more cheetahs from Botswana were brought to the KNP recently.