The animals will be monitored with GPS collars and local residents will be employed to protect against poachers.

“The cheetah that became extinct in independent India is all set to return. In the next five years, we are looking at 35 to 45 cheetahs to be reintroduced in India,” Dr Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala, who is leading the project, told The Telegraph.

With unique teardrop marks and tiny black spots, the endangered cat can race across open grasslands at speeds touching 70 miles an hour when going for the kill.

There were once large numbers in India, with the Mughal emperor Akbar recorded to have owned 1,000 of them. But their numbers vastly dwindled during British rule due to hunting, and later to diminishing habitats, according to Qamar Qureshi of the Wildlife Institute of India, who said the animals were often targeted because they killed livestock.

In his book The End of a Trail, author Divyabhanusinh highlights the recorded popularity of hunting and capturing cheetahs among the British.

For example Lord Pigot, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Madras from 1755 to 1763, presented the Duke of Cumberland with a cheetah for the royal menagerie at Windsor, no doubt in the hope it would arouse interest at court for its hunting ability.