As the biggest wildlife experiment enters its third year, the government has decided to establish an Inter-State Cheetah Conservation Complex in the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar landscape along the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh border for future cheetah population.
India has been desperate to revive the only big carnivore it has lost to extinction, even though eight of the 20 adult cheetahs it has imported from Namibia and South Africa have died since their historic translocation. Only 12 adult cheetahs now remain confined to the large enclosures in the Kuno National Park. The felines have given birth to 12 cubs – all captive-born, including the first cub who is being hand-raised after being abandoned.
The target is still to establish a meta-population of 60-70 cheetahs in the next 25 years. As part of its plan, the government has already readied Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary as the second site for translocation, while it is actively engaging with South Africa and Kenya to import a third batch of cheetahs to India before year-end.
A 28 km-long predator-proof fence has already been put in place to secure an area of 64 sq km for the cheetahs, and the prey base is being augmented.
INTER-STATE COMPLEX – MP, RAJASTHAN AND UP
A large part of this Inter-State Cheetah Conservation Complex is situated in the Chambal River basin – covering the districts of Sheopur, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Morena, Guna, Ashoknagar, Mandsaur, Neemuch in MP and Baran, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Kota, Jhalawar, Bundi, Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, as well as Lalitpur and Jhansi districts of Uttar Pradesh which are adjacent to this landscape depending on the cheetahs’ use of the region.
These multiple forest patches cumulatively cover an area of 10,500 sq km in MP and 6,500 sq km in Rajasthan.
The gigantic exercise will also be executed by developing a multi-sectoral plan to ensure proper coordination between various forest departments. Many Cheetah Rapid Response teams will also have to be formed in various districts to allow safe passages for cheetahs in human-dominated areas of the landscape. In the long-term, the plan is also “to identify potential wildlife corridors to safeguard against conservation antagonistic land use patterns.”
Eco-tourism still remains on the agenda, albeit it should be “sustainable and conservative”, and options would be explored to generate revenues through brand building, marketing, sponsorships, merchandising,” as stated in the Annual cheetah report released by the government.
According to the plan, the adjacent territorial divisions of Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary- Neemuch (1000 km2 ), Mandsaur (500 km2 ) as well as Bhainsrorgarh Wildlife Sanctuary (208 km2 ) part of Mukundara Tiger Reserve and territorial division of Chittorgarh (1000 km2 ) in Rajasthan combined together could form a large contiguous habitat of ~2500 km2 for the cheetah.
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