Three years on, India’s cheetah reintroduction struggles with poor science, delays, and missed grassland goals. In September 2022, the arrival of eight cheetahs from Namibia to Kuno National Park was hailed as a conservation milestone. Five months later in February 2024, 12 more spotted cats arrived from South Africa. The initiative, branded Project Cheetah, carried lofty ambitions. It aimed not just to restore the world’s fastest land animal to India’s landscapes, but to revive open natural ecosystems (ONEs) — the grasslands, scrublands, and savannahs that are among the country’s most neglected habitats. By reintroducing a top predator, policymakers hoped to spark wider conservation attention, diversify India’s wildlife portfolio beyond tigers and forests, and make ecological amends for a human-caused extinction. The Cheetah Action Plan set out a clear roadmap: import 5–10 cheetahs annually for a decade, create a metapopulation across multiple states, secure and restore grassland hab...
It is always disheartening to carry a picture of a dead tiger . This young tiger was killed by poachers near Panna tiger reserve . About four days after the death, body of this male tiger was found hanging from a tree from a clutch wire- used in motor bikes. The picture gives an impression as if the tiger committed suicide. This is the second such incident in the region. Around four years ago, the body of a tiger was found hanging from a tree in the core area of the tiger reserve.
Poachers Are Active
On the cold December morning on Wednesday, the forest department officials in Panna and Chattarpur received a message of the tiger's death. As the investigations started by afternoon on December 7, officials of the Special Task Force, the Tiger Strike Force and local police arrived at the scene. Sniffer dogs were deployed . We will update the story whenever some development take place. The crime scene is located in a village Vikrampur ,8 kms away from Panna city and about 20 kms away from the tiger reserve. Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) Chattarpur , Sanjeev Jha said, “ poachers wanted to kill some other animal but the tiger was caught in the noose”. The poaching took place in Panna North division where the post of the divisional forest officer (DFO) has been vacant for the past over three months .Sources said that there was hardly any patrolling taking place in the forest area. The CCF said ,” we will take lessons from this incident and will step up patrolling.”
There is a history of tiger poaching in and around Panna tiger reserve. For the poachers, winters have always been the time to strike in jungles. It has been seen in the past that most of the time when a tiger steps out of the tiger reserve, it has not survived. Large numbers of poachers are active in the jungle around the national park that had witnessed a huge tragedy of tigers when all of them were poached and no tiger was left in the national park. This male tiger had also strayed out from the park, department sources said, after he was separated from his mother. “Over two year of age, the young tiger was creating his territory when the tragedy struck “, sources claimed. “ Even if the poachers did not want to kill a tiger”, a senior officer said, “ the clutch wire noose was placed to kill some animal which is illegal.” There are around 70 tigers in Panna national park. About three years ago when a tiger was killed in core area of Panna, it had a radio collar around his neck.
By Deshdeep Saxena
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