What led to the extinction of Cheetahs in India? IFS officer shares the story in viral post

Big cats have been successfully relocated in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park after cheetahs went extinct for 70 years. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birth anniversary, this eagerly anticipated ‘Project Cheetah’ was finally completed. On Saturday, PM Modi released eight cheetahs into the KNP in Madhya Pradesh. The wild cats flew across the continent in an almost 12-hour trip from Namibia to Gwalior airport.

Indian Forest Officer named Parveen Kaswan shared a lengthy thread on Twitter about the relationship between people and cheetahs as well as common practises of hunting by kings and Britishers during the pre-independent era that caused it to go extinct. As a result of hundreds of social media users sharing the post, it became viral.

 

 

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 16, 2022

 

IFS officer shared a video showing how cheetah were in least conflict with humans. Instead, they were domesticated and widely engaged for hunting. They were even referred to by some as "hunting leopards."

 

 

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 16, 2022

 

Additionally, Kaswan has posted old photographs and drawings that depict cheetahs being chained up alongside dogs. Few other pictures tell how the big cats were employed for hunting in earlier times.

 

 

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 17, 2022

 

He also described how the King of Koriya (Chhattisgarh) tracked down the final group of three cheetahs in 1947. In the image posted by Kaswan, the king can be seen standing next to the carcass.

 

 

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 17, 2022

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