Kuno National Park – History

Kuno National Park – History

The Palpur (Kuno) wildlife sanctuary was established in 1981 with an initial area of 344.686 km2 (133.084 sq mi) in the Sheopur and Morena Districts. An area of 924 km2 (357 sq mi) surrounding the wildlife sanctuary was added as a buffer zone in 2002. The state government changed the status of the wildlife sanctuary to Kuno National Park in December 2018 and enlarged the protected area by 413 km2 (159 sq mi). The national park is named after the Kuno, a tributary of the Chambal.

Kuno National Park was known to be a dense forest in ancient times as well. One of the gazettes of Gwalior princely state of year 1902, records that the Mughal Emperor Akbar while returning from Malwa region captured a big herd of elephants in the forests near Shivpuri in the year 1564 CE. Abul Fazal also mentioned the fact that Lions were found in this region and the last Lion in this region is known to be shot near to the city of Guna in the year 1872 CE. Lord Curzon was invited for hunting by the then His Highness Madhavrao Scindia, the first King of Gwalior in the year 1904.

Lord Curzon was so much impressed with the forests of Kuno, and he immediately suggested the King to bring Lions from Gir and release them into the wilderness of Kuno. King Scindia requested the Nawab of Junagadh for Asiatic lions. The king even built massive enclosures at Dob Kund as the Lion acclimatization enclosures before their release into the forests. The efforts of relocating the lion didn’t materialize. Even Lord Curzon tried to help by facilitating talks with Nawab and personally getting involved in relocation, but the Nawab of Junagadh kept on delaying the project.

Later, Lord Curzon even presented the King with a letter addressed to the ruler of Abyssinia (Current Ethiopia) so that some lions from Abyssinia could be brought to Kuno. A Persian expert named D.M. Zaal was made in charge of this project by the King and allocated Rs. 1 lakh in 1905 for this project. Mr. Zaal, with the support of the King, was able to bring 10 lions from Africa. However, three of them died by the time they reached Bombay Harbour.

Of the 7 surviving lions, 3 were males while remaining 4 were females and they were personally received by the King himself. He named the males as Bunde, Baanke and Majnu and the females as Ramailee, Rampyari, Bijli and Gaindi. These Lions were later released in the forests of Shivpuri instead of Kuno. Unfortunately, these Lions turned into cattle lifters and man-eaters in between year 1910 to 1912. Due to these unfortunate turns of the events, the lions were hunted down, and the project failed.

Lion Reintroduction Project:

The Wildlife Institute of India chose Kuno wildlife sanctuary as the most suitable location for Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project in the 1990s. The project is aimed at establishing a second lion population in India. Once the area was identified as the most suitable locations for the reintroduction of Asiatic Lion, the then management started making long term focused efforts to improve this area as per the requirement beginning with relocating the villages inside the park. About 1,650 inhabitants of 24 villages were resettled to sites outside the protected area between 1998 and 2003. About 6258 hectares area was made available.

However, Gujarat state had resisted the relocation of lion, since it would make the Gir Sanctuary lose its status as the world's only home of the Asiatic lion. In April 2013, the Indian Supreme Court ordered Gujarat to send some of their Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh to establish a second population. The court had given wildlife authorities six months to complete the transfer. The Gujarat government has not carried out the Supreme Court's order since 2013 and resisted the relocation of lions to other states. In 2022, the Indian government drafted a 25-year plan for Lion relocation within Gujarat state and not in other states.

Cheetah Reintroduction Project:

The Kuno National park was once home to the Cheetah. However, the Cheetah is not found in India at present. The last Cheetah died in the year 1947. Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was also proposed as a possible site for cheetah reintroduction in India in 2009. In January 2022, environment minister Bhupender Yadav launched the action plan for reintroducing cheetahs in India, starting with Kuno national park.  On 17 September 2022, five female and three male cheetahs aged 4 to 6 years arrived in Kuno National Park from Namibia. On 18 February 2023, 12 more cheetahs arrived in Kuno National Park. In March 2023, four cheetah cubs were born.