Madhya Pradesh is broadening its conservation narrative beyond tigers. At Kuno National Park, cheetah reintroduction is central to a wider strategy of habitat expansion, corridor development, and community involvement. The state aims to integrate diverse species, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and create a scalable governance model for long-term ecological balance.
India
-Oneindia Staff
When Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav visits Kuno National Park on May 10 and 11, the immediate focus will be on the release of two female cheetahs brought from Botswana into the forest landscape from a soft-release enclosure. But beyond the symbolic moment lies a much larger conservation story unfolding across the state.
For decades, Madhya Pradesh has been identified as India’s “Tiger State.” While that reputation continues, the state is now expanding its conservation vision beyond tigers to include cheetahs, vultures, gharials, elephants, crocodiles, turtles, wild buffaloes and interconnected wildlife corridors.
Madhya Pradesh is broadening its conservation narrative beyond tigers. At Kuno National Park, cheetah reintroduction is central to a wider strategy of habitat expansion, corridor development, and community involvement. The state aims to integrate diverse species, reduce human-wildlife conflict, and create a scalable governance model for long-term ecological balance.
The transition reflects a broader understanding that India’s next conservation challenge is not only increasing wildlife populations but managing habitat pressure, human-animal conflict, migration routes, tourism and local livelihoods simultaneously. At the centre of this transformation is Kuno National Park, which has emerged as the country’s most closely watched wildlife landscape under Project Cheetah.
Earlier this year, nine cheetahs brought from Botswana were shifted from quarantine zones to soft-release enclosures as part of their acclimatisation process before entering the wild. Forest officials have stated that the animals are healthy and adapting well to local conditions.
The cheetah population under Project Cheetah has now risen to 57 following the birth of four cubs at Kuno in April 2026, including the first recorded wild litter born to an Indian-born female cheetah.
Wildlife experts, however, believe the real success of the project will not be measured merely through population figures. They say cheetah reintroduction is a long-term ecological exercise involving prey-base management, disease surveillance, habitat expansion, territorial behaviour and community acceptance.
To support that long-term vision, Madhya Pradesh has already started expanding the cheetah landscape. Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary is being developed as another cheetah habitat, while Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, now linked with the Rani Durgavati landscape, has been approved as a third cheetah habitat in the state.
The state’s tiger conservation network has also expanded rapidly. Ratapani was notified as Madhya Pradesh’s eighth tiger reserve in December 2024 with a total area of 1,271.4 square kilometres, including 763.8 square kilometres of core area and 507.6 square kilometres of buffer zone.
In March 2025, Madhav National Park was declared the state’s ninth tiger reserve. The reserve also saw the inauguration of a 13-kilometre-long stone safety wall aimed at reducing conflict between wildlife and nearby settlements. Conservation experts point out that India’s biggest wildlife challenge today lies not deep inside forests, but at their edges, where expanding settlements, roads and farms increasingly intersect with animal movement routes.
To address this, Madhya Pradesh has begun focusing on wildlife-friendly infrastructure and corridor management. Underpasses and overpasses are being developed along stretches such as the Itarsi-Betul section of NH-46 to facilitate safe wildlife movement.
The state is also working on corridor connectivity between major tiger landscapes including Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna and Pench as part of a broader long-term conservation strategy.
A similar approach is visible in elephant management. The state cabinet recently approved a ₹47.11 crore plan focused on wild elephant management and mitigation of human-elephant conflict. The initiative includes surveillance systems, rapid-response teams, barriers and community-oriented measures. The government has also increased compensation for deaths caused by wild animal attacks from ₹8 lakh to ₹25 lakh, a move seen as critical for maintaining public support for conservation efforts in affected regions.
Another major but relatively underreported success story is the state’s work in vulture conservation. Madhya Pradesh has emerged as an important centre for vulture rehabilitation and breeding through the Kerwa-based Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre operated jointly by Van Vihar National Park and Bombay Natural History Society.
A cinereous vulture rescued in Vidisha district in December 2025, treated at Kerwa and released near Halali Dam in February 2026, later travelled thousands of kilometres towards Central Asia. Wildlife officials view the episode as an example of how scientific rehabilitation and tracking are strengthening conservation outcomes.
The legal geography of conservation is also expanding across the state. In April 2025, the government notified the Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Wildlife Sanctuary across 258.64 square kilometres in Sagar district, making it Madhya Pradesh’s 25th wildlife sanctuary. The state has also advanced plans for protected landscapes in Omkareshwar and other regions, while the Tapti landscape in Betul district has been proposed as Madhya Pradesh’s first conservation reserve.
Wildlife planners believe these initiatives represent a shift from isolated protected zones toward integrated conservation networks that combine reserves, sanctuaries, corridors, rescue centres, eco-tourism zones and community participation.
Against this backdrop, the release of two Botswana-origin female cheetahs at Kuno carries significance beyond the visual spectacle.
The larger question is whether Madhya Pradesh can convert wildlife conservation into a durable governance model that balances ecological restoration with local development and community confidence.
The state currently has momentum on multiple fronts — expanding tiger reserves, growing cheetah populations, scientific vulture rehabilitation, elephant conflict management and increasing protected areas. That momentum, experts say, could redefine Madhya Pradesh’s identity from being only India’s Tiger State to becoming a broader national model for wildlife governance built on science, connectivity, tourism and long-term ecological planning.
