Officials have confirmed the return of the rare caracal in the Thar Desert near the India-Pakistan border, raising fresh hopes for conservation of the highly elusive, and critically endangered species.

The officials spotted two wildcats, a male and female, in the Shahgarh region of Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, with the help of camera traps and radio-collaring, taking the total recorded number of the species to three.

Locally known as ‘padang’, the caracal is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Conservation Act. Once widely populated in Rajasthan and Gujarat, the feline found its population decline by more than 95% due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and retaliatory killings.