BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh’s largest tiger reserve -- the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve -- will become the third home of cheetahs in India in the next two months, the state’s chief minister Dr Mohan Yadav announced on Tuesday.
“Cheetahs are thriving rapidly in MP. With the recent birth of five new cubs, the cheetah family has become even more prosperous. Cheetahs will be released in the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve (VDTR) in about two months. Following this, MP will have three homes for cheetahs,” Yadav said in Bhopal.
The CM further said that crocodiles/gharials and turtles will be released in various water bodies across the state to further enrich MP biodiversity.
The CM’s announcement came just a day after India’s cheetah count crossed the half-century mark with the birth of five cubs to eight-year-old Namibian cheetah Jwala aka Siyaya, which marked her third successful litter since March 2023. With this, the total cheetah count in the country touched 53, including 20 adults from Namibia, South Africa and Botswana and 33 Indian-born cubs of Namibian and South African adults.
While 17 adults and 33 cubs are housed at the cheetah's first home Kuno National Park in northern MP’s Sheopur district, three South African cheetahs are housed in western MP’s Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
While the KNP and the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary are near the Rajasthan border, the cheetah's third home VDTR is spread in a massive 2339 sq km area of Sagar, Damoh and Narsinghpur districts of Bundelkhand region.
Making VDTR the third home of cheetahs in India is particularly challenging as the cheetahs will have not just one co-predator, but two co-predators in leopards and tigers. While the cheetahs already have leopards as co-predators at the KNP, for the first time they will have tigers as co-predators along with leopards.
According to informed sources, the estimated tiger population, including cubs, currently stands at around 25-28.
While confirming that the VDTR management is racing against time to welcome the cheetahs there, sources added that a soft release boma (which will have sub enclosures) is being built in a 4.5 sq km area in Mohali Range of Nauradehi Sanctuary within the VDTR.
Back in 2010, after assessing ten sites from seven landscapes in MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and UP on the basis of a long ground survey, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII-Dehradun) and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) had identified the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (which was made part of the Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve in 2023) among the three sites to introduce cheetahs in India.
In its report, the WII and WTI had stated that the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary was considered favourable to be considered for a reintroduction of cheetahs, particularly based on then existent prey densities, which was enough to support 25 cheetahs. The report had recommended the designation of 750 km as a core area of the sanctuary and relocation of about 23 human settlements from the core with generous and adequate compensation. The relocation of human settlements could then support over 50 cheetahs as a source population, while the Nauradehi landscape could harbour over 70 individuals.
KNP in MP’s Sheopur district of Gwalior-Chambal region became the first home to 20 Namibian and South African cheetahs in India in 2022-23, while a group of South African cheetahs was shifted to Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary in western MP’s Mandsaur district making it the second home to cheetahs in India in April 2025.
