Evaluate Project Cheetah's achievements and challenges against its goal of a self‑sustaining metapopulation.

Project Cheetah began on 17 September 2022 under MoEFCC and is led by NTCA. It is the world's first inter‑continental translocation of a large carnivore [1]. Its benchmark is a metapopulation of 60–70 cheetahs across about 17,000 km² of the Kuno–Gandhi Sagar landscape by 2032 [1]. On that benchmark, the cheetahs are now established in India, but the population cannot yet sustain itself.

Achievements

• Breeding: there were 30 cheetahs in December 2025, and 19 of them were born in India. Mukhi, the first India‑born cub, has had five cubs of her own, which makes a second generation [1].
• Steady supply of founders: 8 came from Namibia, 12 from South Africa, and Botswana gifted 8 in November 2025 [1].
• A second site: Gandhi Sagar WLS has a fenced Closed Natural Area of about 64 km² [2]. This is the second sub‑population that a metapopulation needs.
• Local support: there are 450+ Cheetah Mitras in 80 villages [2], and local communities get a 5% share of eco‑tourism revenue [1].
• Deaths within expected limits: more than 50% of introduced cheetahs died in the first phase of African reintroductions [3]. Kuno's seven deaths in the first year had natural causes [2].

Challenges

• Not enough space: a female with cubs ranges over 3,204–6,888 km² [2], while Kuno's core is only 748 km² [1]. So cheetahs will keep leaving the park.
• Deaths caused by people: NTCA had recorded no human‑caused deaths [2]. Then KNG22 died in October 2026 from five firearm pellets. It was shot in the Morena territorial forest, outside the park [4]. This risk grows as the population spreads.
• Narrow genetic base: there are only 11 founders [1], and new stock depends on agreements with foreign governments.
• Safety vs connectivity: fences protect individual animals, but they also block the movement between sites that a metapopulation depends on [2].
• Split responsibility: outside the parks, protection rests with State territorial forest divisions. A Central NTCA–WCCB team now works alongside the State STF [4]. Collared cheetahs are also moving towards the Rajasthan border [2].

Verdict: the project has met its establishment goals. Becoming self‑sustaining now depends on protection outside the parks.

Way forward: an inter‑State landscape plan for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with protected corridors; WCCB as a standing member of the Cheetah Steering Committee [2]; Cheetah Mitras and quick livestock compensation extended to territorial forests [2]. With these steps, the project can meet its SDG 15 and CBD commitments [1] and give India a cheetah population that survives alongside people.