Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh government is spending approximately Rs 35,000 per day on feeding and protection of cheetahs at Kuno National Park (KNP), according to a written reply submitted by the state government in the state Assembly on Friday.
The government shared that a total of Rs 1,27,10,870 was spent on purchasing goat meat in 2024-25. However, the government’s written reply also clarified that “there is no separate budget provision for cheetah food”. Instead, “funds are diverted from other heads as required.”
The state government submitted this report to answer the questions raised by Congress MLA Mukesh Malhotra, who defeated former forest minister Ramnivas Rawat from Vijaypur constituency in a high-voltage by-poll last year.
Malhotra has demanded answers on the annual allocation for cheetah food, quality and money being spent on ‘Project Cheetah’. He has also demanded an answer on if lack of food led to the death of a leopard in a road accident on December 6, 2025?
Responding to these queries, the government submitted to the Assembly on Friday, stating that there is no fixed standard for the number of goats fed daily.
“Meat is supplied based on veterinary need and monitoring assessments,” it said.
The government denied claims that cheetahs were being deprived of food and maintained that a dedicated monitoring team is working around the clock.
Regarding the leopard death (in December 2025), the reply clarified that it was due to a road accident and not linked to food shortage. It also acknowledged that leopards occasionally prey on cattle in rural areas while roaming in open forest stretches, but ruled out any punitive action against officials.
Kuno National Park (KNP), which is now globally known for the cheetah reintroduction project, currently has 38 cheetahs, more importantly, 27 of them born at Kuno ever since the first batch of eight cheetahs was released on September 17, 2022.
So far, nine successful cheetah births have been reported at Kuno, including the African female cheetah Gamini, littering three cubs on Feb 18.
The Kuno is ready to welcome eight more cheetahs (two males and six females) from Botswana, who are slated to reach Madhya Pradesh on February 28. These cheetahs are likely to be released at the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
(IANS)
