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India plans interstate cheetah conservation complex

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NEW DELHI: India aims to build an interstate cheetah conservation complex in the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar landscapes across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan within the next 25 years, according to an annual progress report on Project Cheetah .

The report, released by the environment ministry, said a fresh batch of cheetahs is likely to be brought to the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary by the end of this year and they would be released into free-ranging conditions over the next five years.

"Both these landscapes, along the interstate border of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, are adjacent to each other, and the combined landscapes together can constitute the Kuno-Gandhi Sagar cheetah landscape for metapopulation management of 60-70 cheetahs after restorative measures, prey availability, and scientific management are effectively in place, as an interstate cheetah conservation complex within the next 25 years under the umbrella of Project Cheetah," the report said.

The larger Kuno-Gandhi Sagar landscape is spread across Sheopur, Shivpuri, Gwalior, Morena, Guna, Ashoknagar, Mandsaur and Neemuch districts of Madhya Pradesh, and Baran, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Kota, Jhalawar, Bundi and Chittorgarh districts of Rajasthan.

Cheetahs were translocated to the Kuno National Park on Sept 17, 2022, when the first batch was transported from Namibia to India.

Preparation is in full swing to bring a fresh batch of cheetahs from Africa to the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, and set up a conservation breeding centre in the Bunni grasslands of Gujarat.

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