Saving grace

Operation Cheetah could inspire a similar initiative to revive another indigenous species from extinction

- Jug Suraiya

Can a cheetah change its spots? That's the question surrounding Operation Cheetah, a project by which eight of the felines, the fastest land animals in the world, have been relocated from their native habitat in Namibia to the Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh, bringing back to the country a species which has been extinct for the past 75 years, the last three survivors having been shot by a maharajah in 1947.

During the reign of Akbar there were reportedly over 10,000 of these animals in India. But unrestricted hunting and their displacement by a growing human population spelt their doom.