BHOPAL : Located on the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan border, the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in the western MP districts of Mandsaur and Neemuch is set to become the second home to the African cheetahs in India.
A team of experts from South Africa is in India to review the preparations at Gandhi Sagar for introducing cheetahs there as well as to monitor the progress in conservation of cheetahs in their first Indian home, the Kuno National Park (KNP) in MP’s Gwalior-Chambal region.
“Officials from South Africa visited the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, and were apprised of preparations to receive cheetahs under the ambitious Project Cheetah. Valuable insights were shared while visiting the bomas, control room, and upcoming veterinary facilities,” read a post on X by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
On Wednesday, the South African delegation met Indian officials in New Delhi. Discussions focused on strengthening collaboration between the two countries in species conservation, especially Project Cheetah.
Sources in Delhi claim that if everything goes according to plan, the first set of 5:8 South African cheetahs could be introduced in Gandhi Sagar in the second half of the year, possibly after the monsoon. A 64 sq km enclosure is being prepared to house the cheetahs at Gandhi Sagar, which is about a six-hour drive (275 km) from the KNP. That Rajasthan came under BJP rule late last year could have helped expedite the plan for a second home for the cheetahs. The Centre has earlier refused to relocate some of the cheetahs from KNP to Gandhi Sagar last year when the fatality rate there had gone up.
The animals will be released in free-ranging conditions in the Gandhi Sagar landscape in phases after ecological restoration and prey recovery, sources claimed. While sources in Delhi were optimistic about Gandhi Sagar getting its first set of African cheetahs possibly in the second half of the year, sources associated with the ambitious project in Madhya Pradesh, however, said nothing is final yet about the numbers and the timing of their introduction.