Dreadful story behind domestication of Asiatic cheetahs that ultimately led to their extinction

Asiatic cheetahs became extinct in India a couple of years before India got independence. Officially, however, the Indian government declared it extinct in 1952. Several factors are responsible for driving the docile cat to extinction and one of the major factors is their domestication.

Pictures of Rajas and Maharajas with cheetahs on their sides or in captivity can be easily found in royal family albums and even on the walls of museums and palaces.

Hunting cheetahs was one of the favourite hobbies of royals and nobles in those days. Reportedly, Mughal Emperor Jahangir was the first royalty to record, keeping an Asiatic cheetah in his captivity and he even bred their family.

In 1613, when Jahangir ruled India, the Mughals had already started keeping cheetahs in captivity but it is the first instance that the Mughal darbar also put it into records.

There is a reference that during the reign of Emperor Akbar from 1556 to 1605 the number of cheetahs was around 10,000.

However, after the Kings and Emperors started domesticating them for sports and other purposes, their number slowly reduced to only a few hundred. A painting of Tipu Sultan’s hunting cheetah who was used to hunt animals for him is currently available on the web.

One of the reasons why Asiatic cheetahs were domesticated instead of Lions and Tigers was because they are more docile than the other big beasts. But since they were removed from their natural habitats, their breeding took a setback and only those who continued to be in their natural habitat could multiply. But the number was very low.

By the time the British started building and expanding their empire in India, Asiatic Cheetah was already on the brink of extinction. Even then many Indian nobles used to arrange hunting expeditions for the British officers so that they can please them.

It was Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya, Madhya Pradesh who eventually killed the last few remaining cheetahs on Indian land.