Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1981 with an initial area of about in the
Sheopur and
Morena districts. In 2018, it was given the status of a national park with total area of . In the 1990s, it was selected as a possible site to implement the
Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project, which aimed at establishing a second lion population in India. Between 1998 and 2003, about 1,650 inhabitants of 24 villages were resettled to sites outside the protected area. An area of surrounding the wildlife sanctuary was added as a buffer zone to human settlements. Gujarat state had resisted the relocation of lion, since it would make the
Gir Wildlife 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. In December 2018, the state government changed the status of the wildlife sanctuary to Kuno National Park and enlarged the protected area by . The Gujarat government has not carried out the Supreme Court's order since 2013 and resisted the relocation of lions to other states. In January 2022, environment minister
Bhupender Yadav launched the action plan for reintroducing cheetahs in India, starting with Kuno national park. According to Bhopal-based environmentalist Ajay Dubey plans to reintroduce African cheetahs in Kuno National Park is another way to escape the transfer of lions to the Kuno National Park. On 17 September 2022, five females 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. On 11 March 2023, two cheetahs were released into the wild of Kuno National Park. On 5 February 2025, five cheetahs were released into the wild. On 21 February 2025, five more cheetahs were released. ==Geography==