There is a particular kind of person who believes an animal can be brought back from the edge. Not saved in a zoo or a sanctuary, but actually brought back, to the forests and grasslands and coastlines where it belongs. India has more of these people than it sometimes gets credit for. A fisherman in Gujarat. A rewilding team in the Terai. A forest officer in Kutch. They do not always make the news. But what they are pulling off is extraordinary.

And this week, we went looking for them.

The fishermen who learned to see 'stars' differently

There's a phrase the fisherfolk of Veraval now use when a whale shark crosses their path: "Paani mein taare" (stars in the water). They're talking about the spots on the fish's back, yes. But the fact that they're talking about them at all, with wonder and not a hook, is the real story. Two........

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