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...
Female cheetah and cubs.Even this picture released by India's Press Information Bureaue says something. Eversince cheetah introduction in Kuno national park , officials are dreaming for this day. But a section of these officials also believe that these cats continue to live under stress and there is an uncertainty over breeding. They need to meet and mate. But how ? Will they be able to do so as they are going to follow many more months of stress when they are released in open. Now that the Namibian cheetahs are ready for release in the open forest from the closed confines of the present 5 square km fenced housing, many in the cheetah monitoring team are concerned over the future of their reproduction- an important land mark in cheetah conservation and the ultimate aim of the introduction of the foreign species of the cat in India. From Namibia to India , to small enclosure in Kuno to the five sq km boma, they will ...