A high-level review meeting of Project Cheetah was held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav to assess the progress of the ambitious wildlife restoration programme and discuss future plans.
Senior officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), wildlife experts and field officers associated with conservation efforts attended the meeting. Project Cheetah was launched to reintroduce cheetahs in India after the species became extinct in the country. The initiative began with the relocation of 20 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa and was later strengthened with the addition of 9 cheetahs from Botswana through international cooperation and scientific planning.
The project has recorded encouraging results despite the challenges involved in wildlife translocation. India’s cheetah population has now increased to 53, including 33 cubs born in the country, indicating successful adaptation and breeding in Indian conditions.
According to officials, the survival rate of relocated cheetahs and cubs is in line with and in some cases better than global standards, reflecting effective scientific management and monitoring. The project follows a landscape-based conservation strategy for long-term sustainability. Kuno national park has been developed as the primary habitat for the cheetahs, while gandhisagar wildlife sanctuary has been prepared as an additional site for future expansion.
Authorities are also planning to expand the programme to new areas, including the banni grasslands reserve, where habitat preparation and prey augmentation work have reached satisfactory levels. Preparatory work is also underway at nauradehi wildlife sanctuary for the next phase of the project. Scientific monitoring has shown that the cheetahs are adapting well to Indian environmental conditions, displaying stable movement patterns, effective prey utilisation and no significant signs of physiological stress.
The next phase of Project Cheetah will focus on expanding the cheetah population through additional translocations from African countries, strengthening habitat connectivity and developing a broader metapopulation framework across central India.
Officials said Project Cheetah continues to emerge as one of the world’s most significant wildlife conservation initiatives and is expected to contribute substantially to global cheetah conservation and the restoration of India’s open natural ecosystems.
