Asiatic Lion Translocation to Kuno Palpur

1995 to 2013: Kuno chosen, and the Supreme Court orders the move

• 1995: wildlife scientists identify Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh as a suitable second home for Asiatic lions.
• 15 April 2013: the Supreme Court orders the lions moved to Kuno within six months.
• The case was Centre for Environmental Law, WWF-India v. Union of India.
• The Court also ruled out introducing African cheetahs at Kuno instead.

2022 to now: cheetahs arrive, lions do not

• 17 September 2022: African cheetahs were introduced to Kuno National Park under Project Cheetah.
• That came after the 2013 order had ruled out cheetahs there. A separate later decision allowed it.
• More than a decade after the Court’s deadline, the lion move has not happened.

Where would the lions go?

• The proposal was to move lions from Gujarat’s Gir forest to Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.
• The Asiatic lion survives in the wild only in and around Gir, Gujarat.
• That leaves the whole species exposed to one local disaster.
• Corbett, Mudumalai and Sariska are real tiger reserves. None was the proposed lion site.

Why did the Court order it?

• The aim was a second wild population.
• Two populations reduce the risk that one event wipes out the species.
• An epidemic, natural disaster or prey decline in Gir could threaten all wild lions at once.

Why Kuno was chosen

• Kuno was identified as a lion site in 1995.
• Its habitat was prepared for this purpose.
• Even so, one site cannot solve everything. Long-term viability needs a large, connected habitat.

Why Gujarat keeps resisting

• Gujarat has repeatedly resisted the transfer.
• It treats the Asiatic lion as a symbol of state identity and heritage.
• It points instead to lions spreading on their own within the state, to sites such as Barda Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It argues in-state expansion is better than an interstate transfer.

Gir is now full

• Gir’s lion count rose from 674 in 2020 to 891 in 2025.
• Most lions now live outside the protected core.
• They are spread across a landscape of roughly 35,000 sq km, with farmland and villages.
• Sources: Drishti IAS on the 2025 census and Mongabay India.

The cheetahs complicate everything

• The Court’s 2013 order ruled out cheetahs at Kuno to keep it free for lions.
• Project Cheetah went ahead there anyway in 2022.
• Lions are apex predators. They could kill cheetahs or compete with them for prey.
• Adding lions now risks undoing years of cheetah-acclimatisation work.

A link to other PYQ facts

• The single-population risk mirrors other endangered-species cases, such as the hard-ground barasingha in Kanha.