Parveen Kaswan, IFS Profile picture
#Indian Forest Service. #IISc Bangalore alumnus. BTech #Aerospace. Masters in Design. PGD in #Forestry. PGD in Environmental Law & Policy. Personal A/C.

Sep 16, 2022, 10 tweets

When #Cheetah are coming back to #India. A look at how the last of the lots were hunted, maimed and domesticated for hunting parties. Video made in 1939. 1/n

Historical record suggests cheetah were in least conflict with humans. Rather they were domesticated and used by hunting parties widely. Even some used to call them ‘hunting leopards’. 2/n

Not only cheetah but most of the charismatic animals were hunted in those days by kings and britishers. Until the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 was passed it was very late. Cheetah were already extinct from India. Footage is archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd. 3/3

A painting from 1878 from Marriane North’s book. See how cheetah and lynxes are chained like domestic dogs. Scene is from Alwar or Rajasthan.

A Cheetah in #India, which was used for hunting. From the archives of Prince of Wales Tour of India in 1875-76. A species never go extinct instantly. It takes time and special efforts. Efforts in negative sense.

Another hunting cheetah in India from Prince of Wales visit in 1921-22. These #cheetah were used to catch antelopes. These pics are testimonials that if we don't pay attention to conservation what remains only is picture. Once found in #India now they are extinct.

And then the last lot of cheetah. 3 cheetah hunted by King of Koriya (Chhattisgarh) in 1947. By 1952 government of India declared then extinct. The first step of species extinction in local population extinction. Many are facing now in India. Hope we will pay attention to them.

A species never go extinct in a day. It starts from local population extinction (there are many species at this stage today) and ends at extinction of whole species from wild. Then extinction from planet. An advertisement by Govt for inviting foreign hunters. Dates unknown.

So there were many factors which resulted in extinction.

# 300-400 years of recorded history of capturing them for hunts by royals & britishers. They were continuously removed from their homes.
- hunting as a sport or for reward

Emperor Akbar hunting with cheetahs. Circa 1602

The picture of three cheetah hunt is taken from Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society V.47 (1947-48) page number 718.

Reproduced as it is, as written by then Private Secretary to the king who wrote to BNHS for publishing the story.

biodiversitylibrary.org/item/187063#pa…

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