Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary

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Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary or Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (between latitudes of 25°30’- 25°53’N & longitude of 77°07’-77°26’E) lies in the Sheopur district of north western Madhya Pradesh, a state in central India. It is about 120 kilometres from Gwalior.

An area of 344.686 square kilometres was set aside as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1981. Since then this has been elevated to the Kuno Wildlife Division with an additional area of 900 square kilometres as a buffer area around the Sanctuary. The park is home to many species of wild animals including wolves, monkeys, leopards and nilgai and possibly a few remaining Bengal Tigers.

Currently the Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project is underway. The lions are to be reintroduced from Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in the neighboring Indian state of Gujarat where they are currently overpopulated. This has involved the displacement of twenty four villages of the Sahariya tribe, which had lived in the remote core area set aside for the reintroduction of the Asiatic lions, who agreed to move out.[1] Now Feral cattle also roam the sanctuary, left behind by the relocated Sahariya tribal herders. The cattle are intended to serve as buffer prey for Asiatic Lions until wild prey populations are revived.[2]

Wildlife Institute of India researchers confirmed that the Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary is the most promising location to re-establish a free ranging population of the Asiatic lions and certified it ready to receive it's first batch of translocated lions[3] from Gir Wildlife Sanctuary where they are highly overpopulated. There are large scale deaths in the population annually because of ever increasing competition between the human and animal overcrowding. Asiatic lion prides require large territories but there is limited space at Gir wildlife sanctuary, which is boxed in on all sides by heavy human habitation.[2]

The Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was selected as the reintroduction site for critically endangered Asiatic lion because it is in the former range of the lions before it was hunted into extinction in about 1873.[4] It was selected following stringent international criteria and internationally accepted requirements & guidelines developed by IUCN/SSC Reintroduction Specialist Group[5] and IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group[6] which are followed before any reintroduction attempt anywhere in the world.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Voluntary Village Relocation Activity, Forest Department, State Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, INDIA
  2. ^ a b A.J.T. Johnsingh (2004) “Is Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary ready to play second home to Asiatic lions?, published in the Newsletter of Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
  3. ^ Preparations for the reintroduction of Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica into Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, India by A.J.T. Johnsingh, S.P. Goyal, Qamar Qureshi; Cambridge Journals Online; Oryx (2007), 41: 93-96 Cambridge University Press; Copyright © 2007 Fauna & Flora International; doi:10.1017/S0030605307001512; Published online by Cambridge University Press 05Mar2007
  4. ^ Ravi Chellam and A.J.T. Johnsingh (1999), Translocating Asiatic Lions, India RE-INTRODUCTION NEWS No. 18, Page 11
  5. ^ IUCN/SSC Reintroduction Specialist Group’s Re-introduction Guidelines:
    1) IUCN Position Statement on the Translocation of Living Organism. Approved by the 22nd Meeting of the IUCN Council in Gland, Switzerland on 4th September 1987.
    2) Guidelines for Re-introduction. Update of original Position Statement approved at the 41st Meeting of IUCN Council in May 1995
  6. ^ IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group

[edit] External links


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