17 leopards shifted from Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary for welcoming cheetahs

The Madhya Pradesh forest department has translocated 17 leopards from the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife (GSW) Sanctuary in Mandsaur district and seven more will be shifted in the next few months to introduce cheetahs in the sanctuary by the end of this year, officials said. However, the move has faced criticism from a section of wildlife experts as three of the translocated cheetahs died in territorial fights in their new homes.

“Seventeen leopards were released in Omkareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Khandwa, Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary in Dewas and eastern forest area of Gandhi Sagar Wildlife (GSW) Sanctuary. Two leopards died in Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary, and one died in the eastern part of the Gandhi Sagar sanctuary within two to four months of their release. The reason behind their death is territorial fight,” said a field officer of the forest department, requesting anonymity.

The official added that seven more leopards will be shifted in the next few months as part of the action plan to make the enclosure for cheetahs in the sanctuary free of leopards. The enclosure had 24 leopards.

The state forest department is preparing about 150 hectares of enclosure where cheetahs will be released first and another 64 sq km of predator free area for cheetahs to roam around before releasing them in the wild.

Gandhi Sagar is being developed as a second home for cheetahs from Africa after Kuno, where 20 cheetahs were brought in two tranches in September 2022 and February 2023.

The government plans to bring cheetahs from Kenya, South Africa or Botswana for Gandhi Sagar and officials said the talks are going on for possible translocation by the end of this year.

Confirming the deaths of three cheetahs in their new homes, Sanjay Raykhere, divisional forest officer (DFO), Mandsaur, said because of the high population of leopards the prey population is low in GSW and by shifting leopards the department wanted to improve the prey base for cheetahs. He said the department is also planning to bring in hundreds of prey animals for cheetahs in the GSW sanctuary.

“The population of leopards is quite high (150) in GSW sanctuary because it is the main predator. Around half of them are in western part where five to six cheetahs will be released initially,” he said.

He said that initially, the forest department had planned to release the leopards in other parts of the Gandhi Sagar sanctuary but when a leopard came back to his original territory, it decided to send them to far-off forest areas.

“One leopard, who was released in the eastern area of Sanctuary, came back by swimming across the Chambal River. After that we decided to shift leopards to Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary in Dewas and to Omkareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, which are 350-400 km away from GSW,” the DFO said.

A wildlife expert, who was earlier with the cheetah task force, said on condition of anonymity that the shifting of 24 leopards was not a good idea.

“Cheetahs and leopards can coexist if there is adequate prey base. It will be wrong to keep cheetahs away from big cats such as leopard as they would encounter them once released in the wild. The forest department should focus on increasing the prey base more,” he said.

Wildlife expert Ajay Dubey said, “Removing a big cat for another in such a large number will definitely impact the balance of forest and also disturb the leopards. Though they easily adapt to new habitats, it doesn’t mean that they could be treated as trash. It is against wildlife conservation.”

Despite challenges like high leopard population and insufficient prey base, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Cheetah Project Steering Committee and Madhya Pradesh forest department chose 368 sq km protected area of GSW Sanctuary as the second home for cheetahs because it lies in the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion having vegetation similar to savannah, officials said.

MP forest department additional principal chief conservator of forest (APCCF) L Krishnamurthy said, “There is a landscape of 2,500 sq km spread in MP and Rajasthan. According to the action plan, a corridor will be developed from Kuno National Park to GSW Sanctuary for cheetahs.”

Kuno now has 26 cheetahs of which 12 are in the wild and the rest in the safe zone.