Action Plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India

The Wildlife Institute of India published this report in December 2021. It presents the plan for the reintroductions (also called conservation translocations) of cheetahs in India, curated by the Wildlife Institute of India under instructions from the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.The report notes that Kuno Palpur National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was rated high on the priority list amongst the ten surveyed sites for the introduction of cheetah “because of its suitable habitat and adequate prey base”. The primary reasons for decline in the number of cheetahs in India were large scale capture for bounty and sport hunting, decline in prey animals such as Chital deer and excessive conversion of habitat land. In 1948, the last cheetahs were recorded in the wild when the last three were shot in the Sal forests of Koriya district, Chhattisgarh. The Wildlife (Protection) Act was introduced in 1972 which prohibited animal hunting and was a crucial step towards wildlife conservation. Negotiations to bring back cheetahs started in the country in 2009 with an international workshop by the Wildlife Trust of India at Gajner, Rajasthan. The report is divided into 7 chapters: Executive Summary (Chapter 1); Introduction and Background (Chapter 2); Project Goal and Objectives (Chapter 3); Suitability of the Introduction Area (Chapter 4); Action Plan (Chapter 5); Conclusion (Chapter 6); References (Chapter 7).