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...
Sorry again to begin the New Year on a negative note. In less than a month’s time, when wildlife lovers have not forgotten the gruesome incident of a tiger poaching and the images of the tiger carcass hanging from a tendu tree, another tiger was killed. The December 7 tiger poaching had happened 20 kms away from the park this time the tiger poaching has taken place right inside Panna national park. The tiger was electrocuted in Kishenganj range of buffer zone of the tiger reserve.
Casual Appoach of Park Management
The latest case of tiger poaching was reported on the intervening night of January 3 and 4. In fact a hyena was also electrocuted. It was a well built beautiful tiger that lost life right inside the park where poachers used the supply line passing from the park to kill the animal. But more depressing was a statement of the park director, Brajendra Jha who said this was part of the birth of tigers and their death. More tigers have been born in Panna tiger reserve than those who have died, he said without blinking an eye. He also said that most of such incidents take place in the night but it was not possible to patrol all along the supply lines passing over the park.
Also read: No This Tiger Did Not Commit Suicide, Body Found Hanging Near Panna Tiger Reserve
The field director also said that the trap was laid for wild boar hunting but the tiger was killed. Even if the poachers intended to kill a wild boar that too inside the park, it is something very serious and can’t be taken lightly. The park director hardly has any experience of wildlife conservation and management and it was perhaps his first such posting. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of good officers in Madhya Pradesh who are interested in wildlife.
MP Lacks Green Army
With the maximum number of 526 tigers , Madhya Pradesh also has the largest forest cover in the country, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra .The forest cover contributes 25.14% of the total geographical area of the state and is spread over 77493 sq km area, according to India State of the Forest Report 2021.
Also read: Before Cheetah Came To Kuno,India Attempted To Clone Asiatic Species
The state’s protected forest area is spread across 10 national parks and 26 wildlife sanctuaries but there seems to be a shortfall of a dedicated green force to protect this wealth, admits a senior official of Indian forest service in this central Indian state. In 2009, Panna had witnessed a catastrophe when all its tiger population was poached and the tiger became extinct from the park. It was followed by a successful tiger relocation programme . Presently, there are more than 70 tigers in Panna tiger reserve. Many of the big cats of the tiger reserve have to move out to create territory and when they do so, they are killed.
By Deshdeep Saxena
Images Courtsey Panna Tiger Reserve
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