MP’s Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary Ready To Welcome Fresh Batch Of Cheetahs From Africa

The 368 sq km wildlife sanctuary has been chosen as the second home of cheetahs in India when three cheetahs, two male and one female, were shifted to the reserve forest from the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh over the last three months.

“We are expecting a fresh batch of eight-ten cheetahs from some African nations in October- December this year. The Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary is ready to welcome them”, a senior forest officer of the wildlife sanctuary told this newspaper on Thursday.

According to him, two male cheetahs, Pavak and Prabhas, and a female cheetah, Dheera, who have been shifted to the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary from the Kuno National Park over the last three months seem to have adapted to the conditions of their new home well, indicating that it would be a good habitat for the cheetahs.

When contacted, Neemuch divisional forest officer (DFO) Shiv Karan Atode who is currently in-charge of the Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary, said four quarantine bomas (enclosures) have been built to keep at least eight cheetahs in the quarantine when they would be brought to the reserve from the African countries.

Three soft release enclosures with a total area of 64 sq km have been established in the wildlife sanctuary to release these cheetahs into them after their quarantine period ends.

Sources said talks are in advanced stage with the African nations, Namibia, Botswana and Kenya, for translocation of the fresh batch of eight-ten cheetahs by the end of this year.

The move will mark the consolidation stage of India's Cheetah Reintroduction Project launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi by releasing the first batch of eight cheetahs brought from Namibia to the Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022.

The second batch of 12 cheetahs were translocated from South African to the Kuno National Park three months later in February 2023.

Of the 20 cheetahs translocated from Namibia and South African to the Kuno National Park, 11 survived.

The survivors included three Namibian and eight South African cheetahs.

As many as 26 cheetah cubs were born in the park. Of them, 16 cubs survived, recording a survival rate of cubs at 61.05 percent which is well above the global survival rate of 40 percent.

Kuno currently has a cheetah population of 25, while Gandhi Sagar wildlife sanctuary has three cheetahs.