As Project Cheetah Eyes Expansion Across States, Kuno National Park Becomes A Guiding Light
Nishtha Anushree
May 18, 2025, 08:03 AM | Updated 08:55 AM IST
Kuno National Park spearheads Project Cheetah
- Project Cheetah rebounded from 9 deaths among 20 original cheetahs to reach 31 cheetahs today. Here's the story.
Less than a year after cheetahs were reintroduced to India in September 2022, media outlets started writing obituaries of Project Cheetah, calling it a '
colossal failure', Project Cheetah becoming '
toothless' and whatnot.
It was because, of a total of 20 cheetahs introduced in Kuno National Park (NP) of Madhya Pradesh (MP), eight from Namibia in September 2022, followed by 12 more from South Africa in February 2023, nine had died in a year.
A few critics went ahead to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi because he was the one who introduced cheetahs first on his 72nd birthday and is believed to be steering Project Cheetah.
While
The Hindu and
The Telegraph questioned the feasibility and the transparency of the project, respectively, the
Irish Times made a more direct
attack with the headline 'Narendra Modi ‘playing God’ with return of cheetahs'. Opposition Congress accused PM Modi of putting “vanity and showmanship” before science.
"Anything the government does, criticism is bound to happen, there is always a faction of pessimists. Even a section among wild-lifers was not in favour of bringing cheetahs, so it was stuck with its worldview," field director of Kuno NP, Uttam Kumar Sharma told
Swarajya.
"These pessimists used any unfortunate incident at Kuno to justify their worldview. When cheetahs died, they said that they had warned that it was not good to bring cheetahs to India," he said explaining the statements of the critics.
However, soon, the critics were proven wrong. From a low of 15 cheetahs in Kuno in August 2023, the cheetah numbers have more than doubled today. Currently, there are 31 cheetahs, of which 19 are born in India.
"The two major apprehensions of the critics were whether the cheetahs brought from Africa would be able to prey on Indian animals and whether the cheetahs would be able to breed. Both have been overcome now, leaving the critics to wonder what they can criticise now," Sharma added.
In Kuno, cheetahs
preyed on a variety of species including Indian hare, chital, sambar, chowsingha, chinkara, blackbuck, and nilgai. The prey availability was ensured before the cheetahs were introduced in Kuno.
Explaining the breeding, the Kuno field director said, "The breeding happened so well that it established a world record. Cheetahs' breeding, especially in confined spaces is very poor. The rate is less than 10 per cent. But, we have seven females, of which five are mothers."
The first female cheetah to reproduce was Jwala, who gave birth to four cubs in March 2023, but only one of them survived, while the remaining three died within months. This was a setback for Project Cheetah.
The year 2024 proved to be good for the birth of cheetah cubs, as four female cheetahs gave birth to a total of 17 cubs, of which, 13 survived. The survival rate of cheetahs was up from 25 per cent in 2023 to 76 per cent in 2024.
A cheetah with a cub in Kuno
Recently, a fifth female cheetah named Neerva gave birth to five cubs. "The arrival of these little cubs is a symbol of the success of the Cheetah Project and the rich biodiversity of India," MP Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav
said.
Sharma calls this development an example of "exceptional breeding", which is setting a "historical record." With a total of 12 surviving adult cheetahs brought from Africa and 19 cubs born in India, he is optimistic that Project Cheetah is going in the "right direction."
How this was achieved
Before the introduction of cheetahs, many villages were relocated to reduce the human pressure from the Kuno NP. The habitat was developed by preparing grasslands (including palatable grass for prey base) and removing weeds. The water availability was ensured with the development of ponds, water holes and the diversion of river water.
Cheetahs were earlier soft-released, which has been successful in tiger reintroductions in Sariska and Panna Tiger Reserves. Soft-release means that cheetahs were kept in predator-proof fenced enclosures with adequate water and shade availability until they became accustomed to the new environment and hunting Indian prey species.
Upon their release, they were intensively monitored. "What a cheetah is doing and how is its health, everything was monitored to give it early treatment when needed. But at the same time, cheetahs should not feel any interference," Sharma said explaining the challenge.
"Animals are very sensitive, any kind of human intrusion gives them stress, which hampers the breeding. We gave them such an intrusion-free environment, that despite being in an enclosed space, they bred," he added.
For better monitoring, GPS/satellite collars or radio collars have been put over cheetahs, drones and eight high-mast cameras with 2 kilometre of range are deployed and dog squads are maintained for the protection of cheetahs.
Radio collar on the neck of a cheetah in Kuno
This monitoring helped to understand how cheetahs are adapting to their new environment and provide them any assistance, especially to the newborn cubs. A team of 180 trained professionals monitored cheetahs 24x7.
"Apart from intensive monitoring, we strictly followed all protocols. Very few people had access to cheetahs. Even we didn't allow our senior officers to visit cheetahs. PM Modi had also said that we should not allow even him," Sharma said, expressing gratitude for all the support they got.
It is commendable that all protocols regarding cheetahs, despite being inspired by the world's best practices, were developed indigenously. The Kuno NP did not copy-paste anything because adapting cheetahs to Indian conditions was their main objective.
Regarding this, the Kuno field director said, "The foreign experts were here only for two to three months in the initial phase. Even they didn't have any idea what to do for Indian conditions. However, they helped us understand the basic behaviour of cheetahs."
"They (foreign experts) were not used to such intensive management of cheetahs because, in their countries, cheetahs are in comfortable numbers and remain in the wild. However, for us, it was a major responsibility because cheetahs were brought from outside. Even a single cheetah life is very precious to us," he said, explaining the difference in the management practices.
The Kuno team was equipped with cutting-edge medical equipment. "We have the latest medicines and have even tried new combinations. We have modern equipment ranging from darting guns, portable X-ray and ultrasound machines," Sharma said.
A cheetah cub is being treated for forelimb fracture in Kuno. The yellow device is a portable X-ray machine.
There is a portable mobile hospital, as well as a modern hospital near the cheetah centre. "This is how we ensure the best treatment of cheetahs," he added.
With these efforts, the cheetah population has stabilised in Kuno and is also increasing gradually. "We lost cheetahs only in the first year of adjustment. Now, the cheetahs have reached their natural death rate. Now, they are not dying of any specific reasons, they are dying only on the completion of their natural life cycle," Sharma asserted.
What's happening now
Since cheetahs are territory-marking animals, every cheetah (especially male) needs a territory of its own. This means that only a limited number of cheetahs can be accommodated in Kuno, which is spread over 750 square kilometres (km2) of area.
The carrying capacity of the Kuno was estimated to be nearly 27 cheetahs in a December 2021
report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), which planned the introduction of cheetahs in India.
With the current number of cheetahs at 31, this capacity has been breached, which means cheetahs need more space. Cheetahs themselves expressed this need when they were sighted multiple times in nearby villages.
Map of cheetah movement in Kuno landscape shows rare instances of cheetah going into non-forest area
"Cheetahs are busy marking their territories and hence, they reach villages sometimes. This shows that they need a larger space. Another batch of cheetahs is also set to come from Africa, so definitely more space is needed," wildlife researcher and author of the book 'Cheetah', Kabir Sanjay told
Swarajya.
The most recent incident happened earlier this week where a cheetah with its cubs was seen in a Sheopur village and even preyed on a villager's cow. Earlier in March, villagers pelted stones at cheetahs during a similar sighting.
Regarding this, Sharma said, "The sensitisation of villagers to cheetahs is a continuous process. Sometimes, cheetahs go away too far, so they come across those villages, which are out of the limits of Kuno. We only have campaigns in 150 villages, so more work needs to be done in other villages."
While the villagers in more areas are being sensitised about what to do or what not when coming across a cheetah, Kuno has also actively started working on the translocation of a few cheetahs to another Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) in MP, Gandhi Sagar.
368 km2 in area, this WLS provides an ideal habitat for cheetahs with a mosaic of grasslands, savannah, dry deciduous forests and riverine evergreen patches with good water availability. However, work needs to be done to increase prey availability.
Two adult male cheetahs were translocated to the Gandhi Sagar WLS last month and the Kuno NP has permission to send another two female cheetahs to Gandhi Sagar. The timeline of the next phase of relocation has not been revealed by the Kuno field director.
The two male cheetahs translocated to Gandhi Sagar WLS
However, the future plan does not include such translocations achieved through human intervention. Instead, the vision is to develop a landscape suitable for cheetahs, so they themselves can travel between the protected areas and choose their territory.
"We have taken up the work to develop habitat in the landscape. While Gandhi Sagar is a second site, we also want to develop the area between Gandhi Sagar and Kuno, so that cheetahs can move themselves," Sharma explained.
For this landscape, a 2,500 km2 area around Gandhi Sagar WLS and a 6,500 km2 area around Kuno are being developed. This total area of 9,000 km2 will be able to cater to 60-70
cheetahs.
However, India's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Africa means that at least 100 cheetahs are set to be brought to India in a decade. Adding this to the increasing population of cheetahs through breeding here, cheetahs would require more areas than this landscape.
The expansion to other states
As per the December 2021 report on the cheetah reintroduction plan in India, 10 sites across five states were identified as suitable for cheetahs.
In MP, there are four such sites: Kuno NP, Gandhi Sagar WLS, Nauradehi WLS, which has been renamed to Rani Durgavati Tiger Reserve (TR) and Sanjay TR bordering Chhattisgarh. In Chhattisgarh, there is Guru Ghasidas NP.
The identified sites for Project Cheetah
However, the immediate expansion plans suggest a west and southward movement for cheetahs. PM Modi
announced the expansion to Gandhisagar WLS and Banni Grasslands in Gujarat at the National Board of Wildlife meeting in March.
Like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh too has a single proposed site for cheetahs: Kaimur WLS. Rajasthan has three sites including Desert NP WLS and Shahgarh Grasslands.
Apart from Gujarat, Rajasthan is also set to become a part of Project Cheetah. A wildlife corridor spanning 17,000 km2 will be developed between the two states to allow cheetahs to roam freely in a protected and connected habitat.
The
discussions regarding this happened when MP CM Yadav met Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma in Jaipur last month. Of the 17,000 km2, 6,500 km2 area will be in Rajasthan, covering seven districts: Kota, Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, and Chittorgarh, and 10,500 km2 in MP.
Explaining this, Kuno director Sharma said, "It's not just a corridor. It's a landscape, starting from Kuno, spreading to Madhav NP (recently declared TR) in MP, Ranthambhore TR, Keladevi Sanctuary, Mukundara NP, and Bhensrodgarh WLS in Rajasthan and merging back with Gandhi Sagar WLS in MP."
Map of Kuno-Gandhi Sagar cheetah metapopulation landscape in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan
The MP and Rajasthan governments are set to sign an MoU in this regard soon. "A basic study has been done, a landscape plan has been identified. Meetings regarding MoUs between the forest departments of the two states are ongoing," he added.
Rajasthan's Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Rajesh Kumar Gupta, who is overlooking the implementation of Project Cheetah in the state, confirmed that discussions regarding MoU with MP are ongoing, but refused to reveal further details.
However, he told
Swarajya, "The cheetahs are with MP, so they will be deciding when and how to translocate cheetahs to us. Our only work is to prepare habitat for the upcoming cheetahs, which we have started alongside these discussions."
While it remains to be seen when Gujarat and Rajasthan and other states will become home to cheetahs, one thing is sure with the success achieved in the short duration, Kuno NP will be a guiding light for them.
"We have developed management practices and expertise in various things and protocols have been standarised. We have learned things with hard work and our experience will help all those centres which will become home to cheetahs," Kuno field director said.
Explaining the collaboration with cheetahs' new home Gandhi Sagar WLS, he said, "Kuno has become a training centre. Gandhi Sagar's doctors and staff spent months here to learn how to manage cheetahs."
Gandhi Sagar has started becoming cheetahs' next home after Kuno with the latter's help. With more cheetahs, more habitats will be developed for the big cat, but Kuno being the first one, will always navigate them through the challenges.
The foundation of Project Cheetah has been established, but wildlife researcher Kabir Sanjay said that he would consider it a success only when cheetahs would be able to live in the wild in India without any human intervention.
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