Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve may become new home for cheetahs
New Delhi: are considering developing the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh as a new home for cheetahs, according to official records.
The matter of using the tiger reserve for cheetah relocation was first discussed at a meeting of the Cheetah Project Steering Committee in December last year.
Asked about the decision to make it the third cheetah habitat in India, an official from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) said the “Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetahs in India” has listed the area as a potential site.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Wildlife Warden Shubharanjan Sen said, “This was mentioned in the meeting but nothing has happened on the ground yet.”
Another official, however, said that after the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district, cheetahs will be introduced in the Bunni grasslands in Gujarat’s Kutch district and then in the Shahgarh Bulge region in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan.
The 10 potential sites listed in the action plan for cheetah introduction are -- Guru Ghasidas National Park in Chhattisgarh, Banni grasslands in Gujarat, Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanjay National Park, Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary, Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (now Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve) and Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Desert National Park and Shahgarh grasslands in Rajasthan and Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.
Seventy years after cheetahs went extinct in India, the government launched the Project Cheetah to establish a sustainable population of the big cat in the country.
As part of the reintroduction effort, 20 African cheetahs were brought to the Kuno National Park -- eight from Namibia in September 2022 and 12 from South Africa in February 2023.
Since then, 26 cheetah cubs have been born in India, of which 19 have survived. Eleven cubs are roaming free in the wild, while the rest are in enclosures at Kuno.
In April, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released two cheetahs into the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary.
The state government officially declared Veerangana Durgavati a tiger reserve in September 2023. It was the seventh tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The reserve spans 2,339 square kilometres and is located about 20 kilometres from Bhopal. It covers parts of Narsinghpur, Sagar and Damoh districts.
