South African cheetahs Prabhash and Pavak get new home, 250 km from Kuno

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Uttam Kumar Sharma said the animals were transported by road to their new home in a journey that took around eight hours. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released them into the sanctuary in the evening.

The Chief Minister said the release of the two cheetahs was a matter of great joy and a major step in the state’s ambitious Cheetah Project.

He said the project, aimed at increasing the population of cheetahs and preserving the species, is showing signs of success. “Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary has now become the second site in the state, after Kuno National Park, where cheetahs are being reintroduced. From the perspective of wildlife tourism, today marks a historic day,” he said. The Chief Minister emphasised that India’s cheetah reintroduction efforts have shown better survival rates than those seen in other countries and attributed this to the state’s forests and conducive climate. He pointed out that Madhya Pradesh’s forests now host 26 cheetahs, including 14 cubs born in India.

He also said that cheetahs are being brought from countries like South Africa, Kenya, and Botswana to be settled in Madhya Pradesh’s forests. On Friday, National Tiger Conservation Authority officials in Bhopal had announced that eight more cheetahs would be brought from Botswana in two phases, with four expected to arrive by May.

Spread across a vast 2,500-square-km landscape straddling Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary’s mix of grasslands, dry deciduous forests, and riverine evergreen patches is meant to offer an ideal habitat for the cheetahs to thrive. The sanctuary currently has a carrying capacity of 10 cheetahs. “In order to sustain six-eight cheetahs inside the predator-proof fenced area, there is an annual requirement of 1,560-2,080 prey animals, or 26-35 prey animals per square km. The current prey availability inside the fenced area is 475 animals and that is being augmented with 1,500 more, such as chital, blackbuck and nilgai,” the action plan says.

However, the sanctuary’s robust leopard population presents a formidable challenge. According to the action plan, the sanctuary has an estimated population of 70 leopards in the West Range, and they pose a significant threat to cheetahs, particularly cubs and juveniles, and compete for similar prey.

To mitigate this risk, all “leopards within the fenced area will be captured and relocated before the cheetahs are brought to Gandhi Sagar WLS”, the plan says.

Yadav said the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, which spans Mandsaur and Neemuch districts in Ujjain division, may have been home to cheetahs hundreds of years ago, and that their return is also a promising sign for the revival of wildlife tourism. He further noted the historical and cultural significance of the sanctuary, which includes the Chaturbhuj Nala area, known for its prehistoric rock paintings.