Madhya Pradesh has let eight wild water buffaloes into a 17-hectare enclosure inside Kanha Tiger Reserve, aiming to bring back a species that vanished from the State's forests nearly a hundred years ago. The group of six females and two males came from Kaziranga National Park in Assam. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is rated Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The State plans to settle 50 such buffaloes in the Kanha landscape over three years, with Assam sending animals in phases. Kanha National Park dates from 1955 and joined Project Tiger in 1973.