Cheetah Reintroduction in India

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Cheetahs set to race into Madhya Pradesh, lion sharing now on snail's track?

AHMEDABAD: Cheetahs, the planet's fastest land animals, are set to make a grand entry in India as eight animals will be brought from South Africa to be reintroduced in the Kuno-Palpur of Madhya Pradesh. This was confirmed by M K Ranjitsinh, head of the Supreme Court appointed committee to assist the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for cheetah reintroduction in India. 

Gujarat is rejoicing in MP's gain. In fact, the state government which was ordered in 2014 by the apex court to part with its pride--the Asiatic lions--for translocation in Kuno-Palpur is understood to be colossally relieved by the Union environment ministry's recent decision of reintroducing cheetahs in MP. 

"The news about cheetahs finding a home in Kuno-Palpur will come as a breather for the Gujarat government for at least a decade," a Gujarat forest department officer said. 

A Wildlife Institute of India expert said, "Lions can be let into Kuno-Palpur only after the cheetahs have had two litters." The expert added, "We believe that the lions can now be translocated to Kuno-Palpur only after a decade because early introduction of lions can prove detrimental to the process of settling the cheetahs in." 

It needs mention that the Gujarat government was told to translocate some lions from the 

Gir sanctuary following a Supreme Court order in April 2014. However, the state had demanded that all relevant studies of the International Union for Conservation of Nature be considered first to obtain clarity on the translocation guidelines.


This demand was raised in a meeting of the committee formed by the apex court in 2014.

Translocation of lions: It’s advantage Gujarat

Gujarat’s principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) at the time, C N Pandey, had pressed for the examination of the guidelines. 

Since then, the Gujarat government has been consistently bringing up minute aspects of the translocation process in the meetings. The lions had been saved so far from any movement outside Gujarat as they were well protected in the thickets of bureaucratic minutiae. 

Lion experts indicated that Gujarat now has some advantage in the translocation battle. “Had lions been introduced first in Kuno-Palpur, it would not have been easy to introduce cheetahs,” an expert said. 

“But now that cheetahs are being introduced, lions can be moved in only when the cheetah population stabilizes.” 

In 2018, Gujarat forest minister Ganpat Vasava had said: “We are actively considering shifting lions to Barda Dungar, the alternative site in Gujarat cleared by the Wildlife Institute of India.” 

Vasava had gone on to say: “But the Gujarat government is not in favour of sending lions outside the state. The CM and the cabinet are clear that there cannot be translocation of the lions.” 

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