Cheetah to be reintroduced in India: MP Forest Minister

Madhya Pradesh Forest Minister Vijay Shah informed on Sunday that the Cheetah would be reintroduced into the country in November '21 at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952.

"We have started the process of creating an enclosure for around 10 cheetahs, including five females, to be brought from South Africa to Kuno in Sheopur district, and it is going to be completed by August," Shah said.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had prepared a cheetah reintroduction project involving the introduction of African cheetahs to suitable habitat in India on an experimental basis. The Supreme Court had earlier approved it. An expert from South Africa and scientists from WII visited the Kuno National Park spread over the Chambal region on April 26 to inspect facilities and habitat created for the introductions of African Cheetahs and approved it.

Officials from India will be sent to South Africa for sensitization and training in June and July this year and according to the plan, the transportation of the cheetahs will take place in October and November, Shah explained.

"According to the approved timeline sent to us by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change this week, the tentative budget outlay of 'Project Cheetah' is ₹ 1,400 lakh for this fiscal," he said. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is going to release the money for the project to Madhya Pradesh and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) at Dehradun next month.