The Wildlife India

Posts

Sonewani Tiger Tragedy, Cover-Ups Erode the Tiger State Tag

A shocking case in Madhya Pradesh exposes negligence, illegal cremation, and absconding forest staff - raising doubts over tiger conservation efforts . Madhya Pradesh which never misses a chance to flaunt its title as the “Tiger State of India,” now finds itself under a cloud of suspicion and criticism. A recent incident in the Sonewani Conservation Reserve of Balaghat has revealed not only negligence but what appears to be a deliberate cover-up by the very people entrusted with safeguarding the state’s most iconic species. In July, a tiger was found dead in the reserve,but instead of following mandatory procedures, it was allegedly burnt without informing senior forest officers. The matter only came to light when photographs of the cremation surfaced in a WhatsApp group on August 2 2025. By then, critical evidence was already destroyed. Also read : Ken Betwa Project : Plan to Massacre Millions of Trees Give Goosebumps The revelation triggered outrage,leading to...

Cheetah From Kuno National Park Strays 180 Km to Ranthambhore

Early Tuesday morning ( August 12) , the sleepy village of Karira in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur district found itself at the centre of an unusual wildlife drama. Nestled in the buffer zone of Ranthambhore National Park, the village is used to the occasional leopard sighting or tiger rumor, but this time the visitor was an animal none of the villagers had ever seen up close — a cheetah. And not just any cheetah. This was Jwala, a radio-collared female brought from Namibia in 2022 and currently part of India’s ambitious cheetah introduction project at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Somehow, she had strayed nearly 180 kilometres from her designated home and ended up in the heart of rural Rajasthan. Cheetah in the Village The first hints of trouble came at dawn, when villagers awoke to find goats bleating unusually as if sounding alert .The villagers were terrified after they spotted an animal — much slimmer than a leopard, with tear-like markings down its face — had been seen in ...

Cheetah 'Shoot' near Kuno village, Grok Suggests Course Correction

Villagers shot videos and took pictures with their mobile phones as a coalition of cheetahs attempted to kill a calf on the outskirts of a village located at the edge of Kuno National Park . As the cheetahs pounced on the calf, the villagers yelled and pelted stones at the cheetahs as they ran into the forest. Although the cheetah trackers tried to stop the villagers, they were outnumbered. This incident has raised serious questions, especially at a time when the project is considered to be on the right track after the release of 17 cheetahs into the wild. Critics have once again asked: Are the animals safe? Will Kuno's villages face more cases of human-animal conflict? And the biggest question: Can Kuno support 17 cheetahs and provide enough prey to sustain them? Let's analyze this with the help of Grok , a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by xAI. Stones Hurled At Cheetahs But first, the real-life drama on the dusty tracks of Sheopur, where Kuno is locate...

Future Tense For Cute Cheetah Cubs of Kuno

Kuno National park released two short documentaries with beautiful pictures of cheetah cubs and their mothers.The cute cheetah cubs in the moving pictures attract eyeballs. Cheetah siblings playing in the lush green grasslands after monsoon in Kuno fascinate all and sundry. For record, in the last 24 months, the same number of cheetahs survived- 12 adult cheetahs of the original 20 airlifted from Africa – Namibia and South Africa- and 12 of the 17 cubs born in Kuno. As the Union ministry of Environment ,Forest and Climate Change (MoEFC&C) celebrates the “two successful years of the cheetah project in Kuno”, lo and behold, all the cheetahs are still in captivity and none of them are free ranging so far.What is the future of these cubs . Their future is linked with the future of the cheetah project. Safe in Boma, Cubs Yet to Face Jungle Threats The documentaries showcase playful cheetah cubs in Kuno. The first cheetah...

Prolonged Cheetah Captivity in Kuno Delays Next Batch of Cheetah

India intends to bring 12 cheetahs annually for 8 to 10 years to continue its ambitious cheetah introduction project. But for the past 18 months, the country has not been able to procure cheetahs from any of the countries in Africa where cheetahs are found . Apparently they- the African countries are "quite worried over the fact that none of the surviving cheetahs in India are free ranging" - meaning they are still placed inside large enclosures or bomas in Kuno national park ”, confides a senior official in Delhi.Death of cheetah Pawan further worsens the situation. India’s much hyped and ambitious Cheetah reintrodution project seems to have hit a major roadblock. The first batch of 8 cheetahs reached India in September 2022 followed by 12 more spotted cats from South Africa in February 2023. Why India Not Getting Cheetahs Restoring cheetah populations is considered by India to have vital and far-reaching conservation ...

Ken Betwa Project : Plan to Massacre Millions of Trees Give Goosebumps

India should drop the idea of Ken Betwa Linking Project (KBLP) which will require felling of 2 to 4 million trees in the emerald forests of Panna national park . Think of the loss of this staggering number of trees in the backdrop of the unprecedented summers that the country experienced in the year 2024. Many parts of Bundelkhand where Panna is situated recorded 49 degrees Celsius while the mercury soared to 52.9 degrees C in Delhi, later corrected by the government to 50 degrees C (49.9). For a moment forget the loss of tiger habitat in the park, think over our own survival. Referring to the special morphological significance and unique biodiversity of Panna national park, the central empowered committee of the Supreme Court on the KBLP observed ," implementing this project would result in the complete breakdown of the evolutionary processes of millions of years." It warned of t...

A Cheetah By The Tail

Cheetah rescue operations after they stray away from the safe confines of congested Kuno national park have been reported regularly in India since September 2022 when the maiden batch of African cat landed in India amidst much fanfare. But the latest visuals of yet another such action- this time in a crowded Rajasthan village in Karauli district-put a question mark again on the safety of the animal. This cheetah had to be handled physically in order to prevent it from falling into a ravine as it cornered at the crest of the ravine after darting amid a gathering of an huge crowd nearby. Pawan's Life Was At Risk Rajasthan forest department officials alerted Kuno National Park authorities about the cheetah leading them to a rescue operation. Pawan, the male cheetah had wandered into Rajasthan through Chambal river bank and was spotted by the local ...

Cheetah Cubs Born in Boma , Do They Have Conservation Value ?

When Aasha gave birth to three cubs in one of the enclosures of Kuno national park - there was good news and bad news. The good news is that this is the second litter of cheetah on Indian soil after Siyaya, another Namibia cheetah, gave birth to four cubs in March 2023 and that the animal seems to have acclimatized further in India conditions. Birth in captivity will also enhance their chances of survival. The three newborns from Aasha have also increased the number of cheetahs in India. The bad news is that like Siyaya's cubs, they too are born within the confines of a boma and would not get the environmental conditions required to survive in the wild. They would also be reared up by Aasha in the enclosure -safe from predators like leopards. But what does this mean? Kuno Awaits Cheetah Birth in Open Forest Cheetahs were translocated to India with a purpose. The Cheetah action plan envisages saving, conserving and developing India's grasslands .The reason for cho...

For the First Time the Official Tale of Kuno Cheetahs

Ahead of the first anniversary of the controvertial cheetah project and the release of African cheetahs in Kuno national park , interesting observations have been shared by the director of the park where 14 cheetahs await re-release in the wild. They were caught and brought back to bomas following 6 cheetah deaths after septicemia caused by abrasion from satellite collars. Uttam Kumar Sharma , the park director has dwelt in detail on cheetah movements and their exploration of the landscape , their interaction with each other and the efforts made by the park management to monitor the animals round the clock as he tried to hammer home a point- African cheetahs are adapting fast in India. Asha: The Hope Based upon his observations, Sharma has released newsletters revolving around two cheetah coalitions -Gaurav-Shaurya (Rockstars)...