https://www.indiatoday.in/indi...s-2001490-2022-09-17

LINK HAS SOME OLD PHOTOS ALONG WITH ARTICLE.



Never killed for fun: Granddaughter of king accused of hunting India's last cheetahs

Ambica Singh Deo, a member of the erstwhile Koriya royal family, recollected how she grew up with many legends/stories, including the stories of hunting expeditions of her forefathers.


Rahul Gautam
New Delhi
September 17, 2022UPDATED: September 17, 2022 19:08 IST



70 years after the extinction from India, the cheetahs are back on Indian soil. Eight big cats were released into the wildlife in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno-Palpur National Park (KPNP) on Saturday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who termed it a "historic day".



India Today caught up with Ambica Singh Deo, member of the erstwhile Koriya royal family and incumbent Congress MLA from Chhattisgarh. She is the granddaughter of Raja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo, who allegedly was one of the reasons why Asiatic Cheetahs in India went extinct and whose picture posing with the last three dead cheetahs back in 1947 is all over the internet.

Ambica was born in 1968 while her grandfather passed away in 1958, but a lot of tales were passed on to her. Giving a sneak peek into the bygone era, she recollected her childhood memories of how she grew up with many legends/stories, including the stories of hunting expeditions of her forefathers.



“Once in 1940, when my grandfather was away from the kingdom, one man-eater tiger had created terror for villagers. My father, Mahendra Pratap Singh, took this task upon himself and ultimately hunted the predator. He was barely 12 years old at that time,” Ambica said, adding, unlike how hunting expeditions are depicted in the media and movies, they were always not for fun.


She further stated, “In fact, only man-eater animals were hunted by the royal family, accompanied by stationed British officers.”


“Many times, villagers would approach us to get rid of man-eater animals. Imagine, in those days, how difficult it was to survive with so many wild animals around in dense forest areas. There were never unnecessary kills or mindless games,” Ambica stated.

Highlighting how severe human-animal conflict was back in the pre-independence era, the scion of the Koriya royal family said her grandfather installed telephone lines in the 1920s in far-flung areas so that villagers/officials could inform the administration about animal attacks.

“In areas where my grandfather installed wildlife SOS telephone booths, today, you won't even find mobile signals, such dense is green cover in our region,” Ambica said, refuting allegations of her family extincting cheetahs and said they were spotted for some years even after 1947.

When asked about cheetahs being rehabilitated into the wildlife in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno-Palpur National Park (KPNP), Ambica lauded the project, saying it will bring wildlife tourism and boost the state's revenue.

However, she also raised apprehensions about how African Cheetahs will cope with dense forest regions here as they are more adaptive to the plain grasslands of Africa.

Meanwhile, IFS Parveen Kaswan alleged that the King of Koriya hunted 3 cheetahs from what was the last lot of cheetahs. He took to Twitter and wrote, "And then the last lot of cheetah. 3 cheetah hunted by King of Koriya (Chhattisgarh) in 1947. By 1952 government of India declared them extinct. The first step of species extinction in local population extinction. Many are facing now in India. Hope we will pay attention to them."

Sadly most Indian wildlife officials would not be able to tell the difference between a cheetah and a monkey, so diplorable is the situtation there!

People i know personally have culled over 1,000 bluebull in the last few months and have been forced to bury them with out any benefit to anyone. Wildlife conservation at its best in India!