Wild Water Buffaloes Return to Kanha Tiger Reserve After Nearly a Century

11 October 2026National

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav released eight wild water buffaloes (Bubalus arnee) into a 17-hectare soft-release enclosure in the Supkhar range of Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, on 11 October 2026, the first such reintroduction in nearly a century. They were translocated from Assam's Kaziranga National Park in April and May 2026, and will enter open forest after the monsoon; the state plans 50 animals over three years. The species is Endangered on the IUCN Red List and in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. It continues Madhya Pradesh's rewilding run after Veerangana Durgavati became India's third cheetah habitat.

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Kanha National Park was established in 1955 and became a Project Tiger reserve in 1973; it lies in the Maikal range of the Satpuras | Kanha is known for conserving the hard-ground barasingha, which is Madhya Pradesh's state animal | The wild water buffalo is the state animal of Chhattisgarh; Kaziranga National Park in Assam has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985

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