Extinct Cheetah Has Once Roamed The Forests Of Karnataka, Reveal Documents

Cheetah, the world¡¯s fastest land animal has once roamed the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, documents have revealed.

Documents said that the extinct animal was sighted, adopted as pet and poached for its skin, before the last one was shot dead in 1952.

The landscape of Karnataka has been home to the cat. A picture of two cheetah cubs playing with a dog is being circulated in Karnataka, The New Indian Express reported.

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¡°It is said to be a picture from Dharwad. It has been sent by another officer, a friend of mine,¡± said B J Hosmath, former PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden.

The photograph caption reads, ¡°The now extinct Indian Cheetah (declared officially extinct in 1952) cubs photographed by G S Rodon at Dharwad in 1897/published in the journal of Bombay Natural History Society (1897).¡± The picture is now doing the rounds on social media.

To support this further, a journal - Mammals of Coimbatore - mentions the presence of cheetah in Satyamangalam tiger reserve at Kottamangalam.

Cheetahs disappeared 1952

An extract from the mannual said, ¡°This animal is sparsely distributed over a small portion of Vellamunda and Kottamangalam.¡±

¡°The Kottamangalam and Vellamunda form the landscape of Sathyamangalam,¡± informed Hosmath.

The text also mentions Colonel Davies, a British officer who happened to find the pelt of ¡®Felis jubata¡¯ (scientific name for cheetah).

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¡°He saw five good skins of Felis jubata among the pelts of leopard, tiger and other animals. They had come from Kothamangalam.¡±

The journal also mentions another Britisher, Wedderburn, who also said that he has seen the skins of cheetah - called so in Cutcherry and one is in his possession - which he ¡®got¡¯ from Bolampatti.

Sathyamangalam was part of erstwhile Mysuru Princely state. The cheetah went extinct in 1952 after the last one was shot dead in Madhya Pradesh.

Cheetahs being reintroduced in India

The government is now making all efforts to bring back the cheetahs to Indian forests.

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Recently it was reported that cheetahs will be reintroduced to India through an agreement with South Africa after a gap of 70-years.

Twelve of the predatory cats, which once roamed across much of Asia and Africa and are now extinct in India, will be flown to the state of Madyha Pradesh where they will be introduced to the Kuno National Park, the University of Pretoria had said in a statement.

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