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...
International team of wildlife experts including those from the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFC&C), government of Madhya Pradesh, Cheetah Conservation Fund ,Namibia among others have been spending sleepless nights ever since four cheetahs were released in the open forest of Kuno. Two cheetahs and male and a female each named Oban and Asha respectively, were released on March 11 followed by Elton and Freddie. No sooner did they step out from their enclosures, the cheetahs vanished in the jungle. Within no time, their location throught their satellite radio collars was traced in the territorial forests around Kuno. There were no media reports as it was not confirmed by the officials tightlipped over the issue. But on Sunday, video evidence broke the news.
"Oban Oban", "Come Oban" , "Go Oban"
The video , shot by a villager showed Oban , a male cheetah, trying timidly to hide himself in the standing wheat crop of a barbed -wired farmfield in Jhar Baroda village of Vijapur tehesil of Sheopur district where Kuno is located. In fact , after the cheetah escape, the villagers were panicked by the cat's presence and many of them pelted stones at the cheetah to scare him away from the human settlement of the tribal village , about 20 kms away from Kuno’s boundary. A rescue team , being trained for this hour, reached and many of its members were heard calling , “ Oban Oban '' , “ come Oban '' ,“Go Oban '' as they persuaded the animal to go back to the jungle. Sources said that the team also carried a cage to capture the cheetah. The villagers said that they were worried over the happening as the cheetah had reached very close to their hutments.
Also read: More Questions On Cheetah Project in Kuno
“ He could harm our animals and children”, they argued. Sources also claimed that the cheetah sustained minor injuries or bruises , may be because of the barbed wire or the stone pelting. There wwere also reports of the cheetah killing a a cattle but it could not be confirmed. “The video showed how vulnerable the animal was and will continue to be in the small jungle of Kuno with 749 square kms of area to roam around”, officials said expressing concern. Experts have already claimed lack of prey for this fastest animal on the four legs .In fact the cheetahs have already touched the boundaries of the neighbouring Shivpuri district, about 120 kms away from Sheopur. They were moving in the territorial forests of Shivpuri.
Not Possible To Chase Cheetah Every Day
The cheetah escape may have been hogging headlines, it has not surprised experts. “ This is a small jungle and we were expecting it to happen. We were prepared for the moment ”, one of the officials said. For the past two days, the officials were looking for Oban but its exact location could not be ascertained. On Sunday, some villagers informed the park officials of the spot where the cheetah was hiding. Oban found an open spot in the fencing and saw an opportunity to explore .It is a wild animal’s natural behaviour to venture and explore its surroundings, they said . The animal was spotted a couple of times after it escaped and its location was roughly known.A team of veterinarians accompanied the officials as they chased the cheetah .
Also read: Cheetahs in Kuno: Deep Divide Over the Project
Around 6.30 pm , the cheetah was chased away successfully and brought back to the jungle. Imagine the cheetah chase by the team for more than 24 hours. " Can this exercise be repeated time and again ", they asked and replied by themselves, " No, it is not possible to do this every day." There are three more cheetahs already outside the enclosures. They have already wandered outside the park and returned. KNP is currently home to 19 adult African cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa as part of the Centre’s aim to introduce the species to India where it was declared extinct in 1952. Twelve of the animals are from South Africa and 7 from Namibia. An eighth cheetah from Namibia, a female named Sasha, died on March 27 due to renal failure. While one of the female cheetahs , Sasha, died of renal failure while a three-year-old Siyaya, gave birth to a litter of four cubs on March 29.
By Deshdeep Saxena
Images: Cheetah in the farm field, video grabs
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