“After a wait of nearly 70 years, cheetahs returned to India in 2022 with their reintroduction at Kuno National Park, marking a major milestone in wildlife conservation.” 

Last week, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change posted this on social media under the hashtag #12YearOfSeva, celebrating the return of the cheetah in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. The animals, however, are African cheetahs brought in by the Narendra Modi government from Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, not the Asiatic cheetah that vanished from India last century. The project has remained contentious among conservation biologists and wildlife scientists.

The government’s celebration of one big cat came even as concern mounted over another. Reports had emerged about Asiatic lions falling ill in Gujarat’s Gir forests. At least eight cubs died in May. More than 20 lions were quarantined. The cause remains disputed – initial reports pointed to babesiosis while the Gujarat government points to extreme heat conditions.

In fact, Kuno National Park, where the cheetahs now live, was originally prepared in the 1990s to serve as a second home for Asiatic lions. The park – spread across the Vindhya mountain range in Sheopur district – was even found to be the most suitable location for the purpose, after the centre told the Wildlife Institute of India to identify suitable habitats outside Gir. 24 villages were relocated, and members of the Sahariya community were displaced.

Asiatic lions are found only in India. Their population stands at approximately 890, and all of it is confined to Gujarat. From a conservation standpoint, confining an entire species to a single landscape poses risks to its long-term survival. 

Conservation biologist and writer Faiyaz Ahmad Khudsar writes about this planned relocation in an essay titled “Betrayed Locals and Lions: The Story of Kuno National Park”.

“The entire process of Asiatic lion reintroduction in Kuno National Park has gone through many social, ecological and political and economical challenges. To begin with relocating and rehabilitating the villages from within the sanctuary was a herculean task….”

However, lions could never be brought to Kuno due to the Gujarat government’s reluctance. The then chief minister of the state – and current prime minister – Narendra Modi did not agree to the move, and the matter has remained in limbo ever since. 

Hurdles to Project Cheetah

The plan to introduce cheetahs to Kuno National Park in 2022 has faced several hurdles too even though the government calls it a “success”.  

“The project has recorded encouraging outcomes despite the inherent challenges associated with wildlife translocation. The current population stands at 53 cheetahs, of which 33 are Indian-born. This reflects significant growth driven by successful acclimatisation and reproduction in Indian conditions,” the government’s press release stated last month.  

Yadvendradev V Jhala, Senior Scientist of Indian National Science Academy, and a leading member of the team that spearheaded Project Cheetah in India also says that the Project Cheetah is on the right track but faces a few challenges. 

“Project Cheetah is on the right track. We brought in a total of 29 cheetahs from Namibia, South Africa and Botswana, and today we have 53, which is a positive development. The only problem I see is that only 17 animals are outside the enclosures. The rest are in enclosed areas. Earlier, we had planned to keep them in enclosures for just a couple of months. But you can release cheetahs into the wild only when the habitat has been restored. The habitat of Kuno National Park is ready, but they are inside enclosures in Gandhi Sagar,” he said.

Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Madhya Pradesh near the Rajasthan border, is the second site selected under Project Cheetah. In April last year, cheetahs were released into the Gandhi Sagar landscape as part of efforts to expand the programme beyond Kuno.

Questions have also been raised about transparency in the implementation of Project Cheetah. Over the past few years, the Madhya Pradesh government has refused to provide certain information sought under the RTI Act regarding the project’s management. 

Wildlife biologist and conservation scientist Ravi Chellam argues that there is a significant gap between what the government has publicly stated about Project Cheetah, what the Cheetah Action Plan contains and what has actually been implemented on the ground. “The project has been characterised by a lack of transparency and accountability,” Chellam said, pointing to instances where information sought through RTI applications was denied on grounds of national security. According to him, the project suffers from a more fundamental problem: it is not grounded in established science. 

He argues that to establish a viable cheetah population requires thousands of square kilometres of connected habitat, a condition that India currently does not meet. “Even after almost four years of the arrival of the first batch, we are still keeping many cheetahs in captivity,” he said.

Chellam also questioned official claims regarding breeding success under the project. While the government has highlighted the birth of several cubs in Kuno, he noted that all litters except the most recent one were born in captivity rather than in the wild.

Jhala too finds this as a problem, and explains that the whole process demands long-term planning, hard work and investment. The recent sighting of a caracal in Kuno was cited by some as a positive indication of improving habitat conditions. Experts point out that some mortality is natural in free-ranging populations, but stress that restoring and expanding grassland ecosystems remains essential for the long-term survival of cheetahs. 

“This is where progress is lagging behind. The whole idea of bringing cheetahs is to restore the ecosystem. We have not done as much work in this direction as we should have. We are making enclosures one after another, but enclosures are not the answer. We need free-ranging cheetahs in the country. That requires both hard work and funding.”

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told The Indian Express that Project Cheetah remains in an early and carefully managed phase of reintroduction, while emphasising that the intention is not to keep the animals in enclosures permanently. The translocation of Asiatic Lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh has not been implemented despite Supreme Court’s orders, but Yadav said states concerned are being consulted. 

Could lions help Kuno’s cheetahs?

Could bringing lions to Kuno at this stage aid the growth and long-term survival of the cheetah population? Former Chief Wildlife Warden of Madhya Pradesh, JS Chauhan believes so.

He says it could offer a dual conservation benefit: strengthening the future of the endangered Asiatic lion while also helping create a more favourable ecological setting for cheetahs.

Though he argues that the case for lion translocation remains compelling irrespective of Project Cheetah. With the entire wild population of Asiatic lions concentrated in and around the Gir landscape, the species remains vulnerable to disease outbreaks, natural disasters or other unforeseen events. Establishing a geographically separate population, he says, is essential for the long-term survival of the species. He also points out that concerns about genetic bottlenecks and inbreeding make the creation of a second free-ranging population even more important.

YV Jhala, one of the architects of Project Cheetah, says the introduction of cheetahs was never intended to rule out the translocation of lions. “We have stated in our action plan that bringing in cheetahs does not mean the exclusion of lions. First, you have to establish the cheetahs, and then you can bring in the large carnivore. Lions are not as much a threat to cheetahs compared to leopards,” he said.

Jhala also argues that Kuno remains a suitable destination for lions. While he believes lions can be translocated to multiple sites, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gandhi Sagar, he maintains that Kuno should continue to be part of that plan. “They should definitely be brought to Kuno because the landscape is more suitable for them than for cheetahs,” he said.

Now that cheetahs have already been introduced into Kuno, Chauhan believes the rationale for bringing lions has become even stronger. He argues that lions, as apex predators, could help shape the distribution and behaviour of leopards across the landscape. While leopards have not so far emerged as a major threat to the cheetah population, Chauhan cautions against assuming that such risks do not exist.

But can the scientific and ecological merits of Project Cheetah be separated from the unresolved issue of lion translocation to Kuno?

Law vs conservation

The apex court had earlier stayed any relocation of African cheetahs, stating that there was no scientific study to show that re-introduction of cheetahs and lions in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary would be successful. It later reversed this decision in 2020.  

Chellam points to the Supreme Court’s April 2013 judgment, which directed that Asiatic lions be translocated from Gir to Kuno within six months. The same judgment, he mentioned, held that the introduction of African cheetahs in Kuno was impermissible.

Chellam said that when the Supreme Court later allowed the introduction of African cheetahs on an experimental basis in 2020, the NTCA’s prayer to the court explicitly stated that they would explore sites other than Kuno. “If the prayer said we won’t go to Kuno, how can they release the cheetahs there?” he asked.

He says that the legal position remains unambiguous. “The court order had said that the lions have to be translocated within six months. The order also said that cheetahs cannot go to Kuno. So the government is at fault for not having translocated the lions and for having taken cheetahs to Kuno,” he said.

Chellam further contends that all ecological and conservation arguments have been heard by the court, based on which it has given its judgement. Hence these arguments should not be used to delay the lion translocation programme. 

While acknowledging that cheetahs can play the role of a flagship species in helping restore grassland ecosystems – much as tigers helped in conserving forest ecosystems - he argues that such benefits can only be realised if cheetahs are allowed to move freely. “The ecological and conservation arguments have to be subservient to the rule of law because the court has examined the facts and, based on that, given a reasoned judgment,” he said.

While Project Cheetah has revived discussions on grassland restoration and species reintroduction, the question of lion translocation remains unresolved. As conservationists continue to debate science, ecology and legal mandates, Kuno today stands as a test case not just for cheetah restoration, but for India’s broader approach to wildlife conservation.

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