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The Madhya Pradesh government has finished setting up the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary as a new home for cheetahs. Teams from Kenya and South Africa visited the sanctuary earlier to check if it suited the cheetahs. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav recently led a state wildlife board meeting, where officials confirmed that all preparations were complete.
To ensure the cheetahs had enough food, prey animals were moved from other tiger reserves like Kanha, Satpura, and Sanjay to Gandhi Sagar. This is part of a big project to bring cheetahs back to India. Last September, eight cheetahs from Namibia were released into Kuno National Park, and twelve more from South Africa joined them in February 2023. Sadly, one cheetah cub recently died, leaving 26 cheetahs, including 13 adults from Namibia and South Africa.
During the meeting, the chief minister also asked officials to look into bringing other rare and endangered animals, like rhinos, to the forests of Madhya Pradesh. Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Mandsaur district, about 270 km from Kuno National Park. This new cheetah habitat covers 64 square kilometres and is protected by a fence.
Madhya Pradesh has become a siginificant destination for the reintroduction of cheetahs in recent years. This initiative, part of a broader conservation effort, aims to re-establish the cheetah population in India after their local extinction in the 1950s. The project primarily focuses on Kuno National Park, a designated area with a suitable habitat and prey base, making it an ideal location for reintroducing these magnificent animals.
The reintroduction plan, launched in 2020, involved importing cheetahs from Africa, where populations are more stable. This ambitious project is a collaboration between the Indian government and various international wildlife organisations. The first batch of cheetahs arrived in 2022, marking a significant milestone in India's wildlife conservation history.
(With inputs from PTI)
