• Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal, is expected to be reintroduced into the country in November this year at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

• The country’s last spotted cheetah died in 1947 and it was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

• Cheetah is considered vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species, with a declining population of less than 7,000 found primarily in African savannas.

• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) some years back prepared a cheetah reintroduction project.

• Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had given its approval to introduce African cheetahs to a suitable habitat in India on an experimental basis.

• The Supreme Court had set up a three-member committee to guide the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on the cheetah reintroduction project. The panel has asked the WII to carry out a technical evaluation of all possible sites for the reintroduction of cheetahs in the country.

Why was Kuno sanctuary selected?

• Kuno-Palpur Sanctuary is located in the Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. The river Kuno flows through the Sanctuary.

• It is a part of the Sheopur-Shivpuri forested landscape.

• Kuno, located in the Chambal region, has a conducive environment for the cheetah. 

• The protected area, comprising a considerable population of four-horned antelopes, chinkara, nilgai, wild boar, spotted deer and sambar, has a good prey base for the cheetahs.

• This site was rated high on the priority list for considering the reintroduction of the cheetah, because a lot of restorative investment has already been made here for introducing the Asiatic lions. 

• The Protected Area was estimated to have a current capacity to sustain 27 cheetahs, which could be enhanced to over 32 individuals by addition of some more forested areas (120 sq km) to the Kuno Sanctuary and managing the surrounding 3,000 sq km forested habitat as a buffer to the Kuno Sanctuary.

• Once a cheetah population establishes itself within the Sanctuary, dispersers would colonize the landscape and potentially hold over 70 cheetahs. This would not preclude the reintroduction of the lion once the cheetah population is established and the two introductions would complement each other. 

Approval of the plan

• Madhya Pradesh government has started the process of creating an enclosure for around 10 cheetahs, including five females, to be brought from South Africa to Kuno in Sheopur district and it is going to be completed by August.

• Officials from India will be sent to South Africa for sensitisation and training in June and July this year and according to the plan, the transportation of the cheetahs will take place in October and November.

• According to the approved timeline by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, the tentative budget outlay of the ‘Project Cheetah’ is Rs 1,400 lakh for this fiscal.

• The NTCA is going to release the money for the project to Madhya Pradesh and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) at Dehradun next month.

• An expert from South Africa visited the Kuno National Park on April 26 this year along with scientists from the WII and inspected the facilities and habitat created there for the introduction of African cheetahs. They approved it and now the final process of bringing the cheetah is underway.

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