THE COMEBACK
As experts from the Dehradunbased Wildlife Institute of India (WII) start the process of evaluating sites to reintroduce the majestic cheetah to India’s wilds, a competition of sorts has also begun between states to play host.
The cheetah was declared extinct from India in 1952. Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya is believed to have hunted and shot the last three recorded Asiatic cheetahs in India in 1947. Now, over 70 years later, the fastest land animal appears set to make a comeback in India.
In 2009, Jairam Ramesh, then minister for environment and forests, had initiated the cheetah reintroduction project, but
