After facing many ups and down, the Forest Department has kept pace with the ambitious Cheetah Project and set to bring more spotted cats from South Africa (SA) in January 2024. The new pair of cheetahs will be directly sent to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary. Wildlife Warden (PCCF) Aseem Srivastava said, “Cheetah in Kuno National Park would not be translocated to other place while they are being treated. Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary will be prepared for the new cheetahs by December this year. There are plans to bring more cheetahs from South Africa and they will be directly sent to Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary.” He said that the sanctuary is being prepared for cheetahs. Forest Department has asked field staff to prepare the area for cheetah by December 2023 so that translocation can be done in January 2024. Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in Mandsaur district is close to Mukundara. Officials are working to translocate herbivore in bulk so that shortage of prey base can be overcome from Gandhi Sagar. However, there is no fencing due to which cheetahs could stray out in villages. Forest officials said that earlier it was planned to keep to 14 or 15 cheetahs at Kuno and shift around five cheetahs to other place.

 

The sanctuary is being developed with proper fencing, grassland, etc work. 50 per cent work has been already done at Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary. A large population of herbivore, including swamp deer, spotted deer, has been released into jungle to prepare the habitat. PCCF Srivastava further informed that all cheetahs in free range have been put behind the enclosures and their collar IDs has been removed to check the wound. Only female cheetah ‘Nirva’ is untraceable as her collar ID is not working. He said that after monsoon period, they will be released into wild. He said that collar ID is important for their safety so all cheetahs will wear collar before releasing into free range. Cheetah Project was launched in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park in September 2022 and the cats were brought from Namibia and South Africa in two batches in September 2022 and February 2023. Till date, nine cheetahs, including six adult and three cubs, had died for various reasons. After casualty being reported, proposal came to shift a group of cats to other area.

 

Earlier, it was suggested to shift a group of cheetahs from Kuno National Park to Mukundara National Park in neighbouring Rajasthan but wildlife experts rejected the proposal citing example of acute shortage of prey base. Experts said that there is shortage of prey base due to which Mukundara Park would be more unsecure for the African cheetah. Forest officials said that cheetahs are now identity of Madhya Pradesh and they want to keep them surviving and breeding in State jungle. At present, there is no secure option for translocation of cheetahs. In tiger action plan, condition of prey base shortage is also mentioned for the Mukundara.