Madhya Pradesh may soon send tigers and gaurs to Andhra Pradesh under an inter-state wildlife exchange programme, with the southern state expected to provide wild dogs and other species in return, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced during a review meeting of the Forest Department.
The proposal marks the latest step in Madhya Pradesh’s growing role as a source population for large carnivore conservation programmes across India. Officials said Andhra Pradesh has approached the state seeking tigers and gaurs, and the Chief Minister directed the Forest Department to initiate the process.
The move comes as Madhya Pradesh continues to hold the country’s largest tiger population and has increasingly emerged as a donor state for wildlife translocation projects. In recent months, the state has approved the relocation of tigers to Rajasthan, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to strengthen tiger populations in reserves with lower densities. Earlier this year, a tigress from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve was shifted to Rajasthan’s Mukundra Tiger Reserve as part of a population management exercise.
Officials have not yet disclosed how many tigers Andhra Pradesh has sought, the reserves from which the animals may be sourced, or the timeline for the transfer.
At the meeting, Yadav said the “state should move ahead with providing tigers and gaurs to Andhra Pradesh while exploring the possibility of bringing wild dogs and other wildlife species from the state”.
CM’s wildlife initiatives
Since taking office, Chief Minister Yadav has announced or backed a series of wildlife translocation and species restoration initiatives in Madhya Pradesh.
The state has begun bringing wild buffalo from Assam to Kanha Tiger Reserve, where the species had disappeared decades ago. The ongoing cheetah programme, which started with animals brought from Namibia and South Africa, is also being expanded, with officials planning to release cheetahs in Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary and develop Veerangana Durgavati Tiger Reserve as the third cheetah site. Yadav said Madhya Pradesh would also seek to obtain the Great Indian Bustards from Rajasthan for release in Ghatigaon and Gandhi Sagar.
Asiatic wild dog
The dhole (Cuon alpinus), also known as the Asiatic wild dog, has long been present in Madhya Pradesh’s central Indian forests, particularly in Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench tiger reserves. Classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the species survives in fragmented populations across South and Southeast Asia. In recent years, forest officials in Madhya Pradesh have recorded a series of notable sightings outside the species’ better-known strongholds. In December 2025, two dholes were officially documented for the first time in Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary in Dewas district, a region where the species had not previously been recorded. A month later, camera traps captured a dhole in Ratapani Tiger Reserve near , marking the reserve’s first confirmed record of the species.
Forest officials said the sightings were significant because the dholes require healthy prey populations and large connected forest habitats. In May 2025, a pack of more than 20 dholes was also reported from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve after a gap of nearly two years.
