After more than a year in captivity, Agni and Vaayu, two South African cheetahs in Kuno National Park, are set to be released in Madhya Pradesh’s Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, though not into free-ranging conditions. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) announced that the release of the remaining cheetahs would take place in phases.
In July 2024, Down To Earth reported that KNP’s capacity to host cheetahs had been exceeded and the ‘excess cheetahs’ will be relocated to Gandhi Sagar’s fenced habitats.
A total of 20 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa were brought to India between September 2022 and February 2023. However, they have spent only a few months in free-ranging conditions, remaining mostly confined to soft-release enclosures. One of the only cheetahs who had been living in free-ranging conditions — a Namibian male called Pawan — tragically drowned in September 2024.
According to Madhya Pradesh Forest Department’s report, Bringing Back the Cheetah to India 2023–24, only Pawan and South African female cheetah Veera were released into free-ranging conditions since December 2023. Currently, 11 adult cheetahs and a dozen cubs remain in enclosures at Kuno National Park, while Veera continues to roam in the wild.
Previously, the Introduction of Cheetah in India Annual Report 2022-23 highlighted that several cheetahs — Jwala, Nabha and Sasha from Namibia and Uday, Daksha and Tejas — were never released into the wild.
Following a recommendation from the Cheetah Steering Committee, officials recently announced that Agni and Vaayu would be released into Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, which spans 368 square kilometres (sq km).
Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, additional director general of forests for Project Tiger and member secretary NTCA, stated that prey augmentation has been completed and in-situ breeding of prey species will take place in the sanctuary. As the monsoon season is nearly over, it is safe to release the cheetahs, he assured.
Two male cheetahs from South Africa — Tejas and Suraj — and a female from Namibia — Dhatri — died in August and September 2023 due to a tick infection that caused septicaemia in the monsoon season. This led to authorities confining the remaining cheetahs within enclosures.
As part of the prey augmentation efforts at Gandhi Sagar, about 1,250 chitals have been translocated from various parts of the state, with 387 of them placed inside the cheetah enclosures to bolster the prey base, according to the 2023-24 report.
“Three predator-proof prey-base breeding enclosures of sizes — 90 hectares, 50 hectares and 50 hectares in size — at Khemla, Golabavdi and Karanpura, respectively were constructed for housing ungulate prey. Currently, there are 79 chital in Karanpura enclosure and there are 42 spotted deer in Khemla enclosure. Fawns have been born to herds in both enclosures,” the report stated.
The authorities estimated that six to eight cheetahs could settle in an area of 64 square kilometres, secured with predator-proof fencing to protect their prey from leopards. The annual prey requirement for six to eight cheetahs is estimated to be between 1,500 and 2,000 ungulates.
Chinkara, the most abundant ungulate in the area and Nilgai are expected to serve as key prey species. However, the report noted that the fenced area still faces a prey deficit of 1,500 animals. Given that the habitat at Gandhi Sagar is unsuitable for chital, officials are planning captive breeding programmes for chinkara and blackbuck.
Despite these efforts, the report stressed that the habitat is not fully prepared for cheetah reintroduction, with ongoing ecological restoration. “In the next five years, Gandhi Sagar WLS requires various management interventions for habitat and prey recovery for release of cheetahs outside the fenced area,” the report observed.