Once widespread across the subcontinent, cheetahs were relentlessly hunted for sport, captured for use in royal hunts, and targeted under predator-killing policies. By the early 20th century, these practices, along with habitat loss, drove the species to extinction in India, with the last confirmed sightings in the 1940s. Today, the Asiatic cheetah survives only in Iran. Naturally. There are ongoing attempts to reintroduce cheetahs into to wild in India.
It is being speculated that they were political victims of British Empire due to some signs they carry on their face.