Harnessing public perception of cheetah reintroduction in India to facilitate management through participatory decision-making

Scientists, conservationists, and decision-makers are debating the restoration of the cheetah population in India, aiming to protect biodiversity and habitats, while several experts express concerns and question the benefits and drawbacks of the experiment. This study represents a pioneering effort to understand public perception of cheetah reintroduction in India, utilizing the tools of Natural Language Processing to evaluate widespread discourse from social media platforms (Twitter and Instagram) and online sources (Google and news media). Public attitudes and levels of awareness were examined by employing correspondence analysis, co-occurrence network mapping, multidimensional scaling, and sentiment analysis. The results indicate that the social media community appears enthusiastic about the initiative, with 91.8% of the dataset reflecting positive emotion, particularly clustering around terms like 'wildlife conservation' and 'fastest animal'. In contrast, Google and news media groups displayed a slight skepticism, with 46.2% exhibiting cynical attitudes, highlighting concerns about the project's outcomes. Public discussions were found to be concentrated in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The study underscores the importance of integrating opinions and different perspectives into the conservation initiative. This approach will help wildlife managers understand both supportive and opposing responses, share important information with key stakeholders, and adapt effectively to achieve sustainable results in difficult situations.