India’s ambitious Project Cheetah has recorded notable progress, with the country’s cheetah population increasing to 53, including 33 cubs born in India, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said on Tuesday after a high-level review meeting chaired by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.
The meeting reviewed the status of the wildlife restoration initiative, launched to reintroduce cheetahs in India decades after the species became extinct in the country. The project began with the translocation of 20 cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa and was later supplemented with nine cheetahs from Botswana under international conservation cooperation.
According to the Ministry, the programme has shown encouraging results despite the challenges associated with wildlife translocation. Officials said the survival rates of both adult cheetahs and cubs are in line with, and in some cases better than, international benchmarks.
Kuno National Park remains the primary habitat for the cheetahs, while Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary has been prepared as an additional site for future expansion. Authorities are also exploring the Banni Grasslands and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary for the next phase of the project.
The ministry said scientific monitoring indicates that the animals are adapting well to Indian conditions, showing stable ranging behaviour and effective prey utilisation without significant physiological stress.
The next phase of Project Cheetah will focus on expanding habitats, strengthening the metapopulation framework and bringing in more cheetahs from African countries to maintain genetic diversity and support long-term population growth.
