Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh is attempting to redefine its identity from being known solely as India’s “Tiger State” to emerging as a broader “Wildlife State”, with a multi-species conservation model that combines scientific wildlife management, corridor protection, eco-tourism, and community participation.

Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav’s visit to Kuno National Park on May 10 and 11 coincides with the release of two female cheetahs brought from Botswana from a soft-release boma into the open forest landscape. While the event is expected to attract national attention, conservation experts believe the larger story lies in the state’s expanding wildlife governance strategy.

Over the past 18 months, Madhya Pradesh has moved beyond symbolic conservation efforts centred only around tiger numbers and has started building a broader ecological framework involving cheetahs, vultures, elephants, gharials, crocodiles, turtles, wild buffaloes, and wildlife corridors.

The transformation comes at a time when India’s conservation challenges are shifting from simply increasing wildlife populations to managing habitat pressure, human-animal conflict, tourism stress, climate risks, and landscape connectivity simultaneously.

Kuno emerges as centrepiece of new conservation vision

Kuno National Park has become the most visible face of this transition under Project Cheetah. Earlier this year, nine cheetahs brought from Botswana were shifted from quarantine facilities to soft-release enclosures as part of the acclimatisation process before entering the wild.

Forest officials stated that the animals were adapting well to Indian conditions and remained healthy during monitoring. The cheetah population under Project Cheetah increased to 57 after the birth of four cubs in April 2026, including the first recorded wild litter born to an Indian-born female cheetah.

However, wildlife experts caution that cheetah conservation is far more complex than numerical success. The project involves long-term challenges such as prey management, disease surveillance, territorial adaptation, genetic diversity, habitat expansion, and maintaining local community support.

To support future expansion, the state has started developing Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary as another cheetah habitat. Meanwhile, Nauradehi, now part of the Rani Durgavati landscape, has also been approved as a future cheetah conservation site.

Officials believe this multi-site strategy is essential to reduce ecological pressure on Kuno and create a sustainable population structure for cheetahs in India.

Tiger reserve network continues to expand

Despite the broader wildlife focus, Madhya Pradesh continues to strengthen its tiger conservation network.

Ratapani Tiger Reserve was notified as the state’s eighth tiger reserve in December 2024, covering 1,271.4 sq km, including 763.8 sq km of core area and 507.6 sq km buffer zone.

In March 2025, Madhav National Park in Shivpuri was declared the state’s ninth tiger reserve. During the inauguration, the Chief Minister also unveiled a 13-km stone safety wall aimed at reducing human-wildlife conflict and protecting reserve boundaries.

Conservation experts note that India’s biggest wildlife challenge now lies not within forests but along forest edges, where expanding villages, highways, farms, and settlements increasingly overlap with animal movement routes.

This makes corridor management critical for long-term wildlife survival.

Corridor protection and conflict mitigation gain importance

Madhya Pradesh has started investing in wildlife-friendly infrastructure as part of its conservation planning. Underpasses and overpasses are being developed along stretches such as the Itarsi-Betul section of NH-46 to allow safer wildlife movement across transport corridors.

The state is also working on maintaining ecological connectivity across major tiger landscapes, including Kanha National Park, Bandhavgarh National Park, Panna National Park, and Pench National Park.

At the same time, the government has introduced measures to reduce human-animal conflict. The state cabinet approved a ₹47.11 crore wild elephant management and conflict mitigation plan involving surveillance systems, rapid-response teams, barriers, and local intervention strategies.

The compensation for deaths caused by wild animal attacks has also been increased from ₹8 lakh to ₹25 lakh, a move viewed as politically and socially significant in rural landscapes where conservation efforts depend heavily on public cooperation.

Officials say faster compensation and better community engagement are essential for ensuring that local populations do not perceive wildlife conservation as a threat to livelihoods.

Vulture conservation and scientific rehabilitation expand

Another significant but lesser-known aspect of Madhya Pradesh’s conservation expansion is its growing focus on vulture rehabilitation and scientific monitoring.

The Bombay Natural History Society, along with Van Vihar National Park, jointly operates the Kerwa-based Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, which has emerged as an important rehabilitation facility.

A cinereous vulture rescued in Vidisha district in December 2025 was treated at the centre and released near Halali Dam in February 2026. Wildlife tracking later revealed that the bird travelled thousands of kilometres towards Central Asia, highlighting the growing role of tracking technology and cross-border scientific collaboration in Indian wildlife conservation.

Conservationists believe such projects demonstrate how wildlife management is evolving from isolated rescue operations to data-driven ecological science.

Protected landscapes continue to grow

Madhya Pradesh has also expanded its legal conservation geography through new sanctuaries and reserves.

In April 2025, the state notified Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Wildlife Sanctuary across 258.64 sq km, making it the state’s 25th wildlife sanctuary.

The government is also advancing conservation initiatives around Omkareshwar and has projected Tapti in Betul district as Madhya Pradesh’s first conservation reserve.

Experts say the emerging model focuses less on isolated protected forests and more on interconnected conservation systems involving sanctuaries, reserves, corridors, tourism zones, rescue centres, community buffers, and scientific management structures.

Conservation moves beyond symbolism

The release of two Botswana-origin female cheetahs at Kuno may generate headlines and powerful visuals, but the larger significance lies in whether Madhya Pradesh can sustain this broader conservation model over the long term.

Key challenges remain: balancing wildlife growth with local community confidence, protecting fragile corridors from infrastructure expansion, managing eco-tourism responsibly, and ensuring that conservation generates economic opportunities without damaging ecosystems.

For now, the state appears to have momentum. With tiger reserves expanding, cheetahs breeding at Kuno, vultures returning through rehabilitation, elephant management receiving dedicated funding, and new protected areas being added regularly, Madhya Pradesh is positioning itself as a laboratory for India’s future conservation strategy.

If successful, Kuno may ultimately be remembered not only as the place where cheetahs returned to India, but as the landscape where a new model of wildlife governance began to take shape.