Skip to main content

Demand to translocate Gir lions outside Gujarat picks up, finds "local support" following attack on villagers

By Our Representative
With Asiatic lions killing, in all, five persons outside the Gir National Park and Sanctuary area, the demand to translocate the big cat outside Gujarat is beginning to gain momentum. Veteran environmentalist Ravi Chellam, a top lions expert, has already fired the salvo saying this is an “urgent and necessary issue.”
Chellam, who took over as executive director of Greenpeace India following the controversial Government of India decision to withdraw its foreign donations permit in September last year, reportedly said, “The one big conservation action that has not been taken so far is to comply with the Supreme Court judgment regarding the translocation of lions”.
For years, the Gujarat government has made it a “prestige issue” in the Supreme Court, refusing to allow any translocation of the big cat to Madhya Pradesh, as contemplated by wildlife experts. It has argued how increase in its population means the lions are “comfortable” and “safe” in their existing environment.
Chellam says, “Lions have thrived in this region and their population has also increased. But the big problem is the protection of the habitat both within the sanctuary as well as in the surrounding landscapes.”
He insists, “Fairly rapid change in land-use and the construction of highways and other infrastructural projects, including fences and walls, are all fragmenting, degrading and destroying wildlife habitats.”
In a rare support, retired Gujarat forest official HS Singh, who has authored books on Gir lions, and is a member of the National Board for Wildlife, has said, “We’re sitting on a time bomb with such exponential growth of lions outside the protected areas, and this is spilling into the entire Saurashtra region.”
“The challenge is not just about developing new habitats for the lions complete with prey base and water points, which itself is a Herculean task, but also about managing the near impossible man-animal conflict which is already happening”, he declares.
Ironical though it may seem, those upholding the cause of the Gir lion as Gujarat's pride want villagers to kill the wild cat in “self-defence” – thus providing enough ammunition to those wishing to shift the Asiatic lion to Madhya Pradesh.
Ex-Gujarat agriculture minister Dileep Sanghani, known for his closeness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asked the state government to provide arms to farmers residing on the periphery of the Gir lion sanctuary and allow them to kill lions in self-defence.
He recently shot a letter to state forest minister Mangubhai Patel saying that “attacks on cattle have been happening for long time, but when wild animals have become human eaters, the forest department should form a committee and make arms available to farmers with liberty to kill lions.”
This was preceded by dissident BJP legislator and Patidar agitation leader Nalin Kotadia delcaring against the proposed eco-sensitive zone in villages around Gir forest, advising villagers to kill lions – leading to angry BJP cadre reaction wanting to “uphold” the Gujarati pride, Asiatic lion.
Last December, when in two separate incidents took place on the same day, with lions attacking and killing two people outside their habitat in the Gir forest, the only abode of the Asiatic lion. Gujarat officials classified the incidents as “rarest of the rare.”
Following three more killings, between May 21 and 23, Gujarat forest officials “caged” 16 lions, who allegedly turned carnivorous. Yet, the attacks have not stopped. On May 28, a 30-year-old man was attacked and was rushed to hospital.
Thanks to a sharp increase in its numbers to 523 in 2015 from 411 in 2010, the Asiatic lion has expanded its fiefdom to a staggering 22,000 sq-km across eight of the nine districts in the sprawling Saurashtra region, as against the total area of 1,412 sq km of Gir Sanctuary, known as the Asiatic lion's only abode.
Of the 1,412 sq km, 258 km forms the core National Park, a no-man territory where only wildlife can reside. The 2015 census found just 22 lions in the “fully protected” Gir National Park – a detail which the Gujarat government has still not officially declared. The actual carrying capacity of the Gir National Park is 60 (click HERE).
The lion census also found that there was a very little rise in the number of Gir lions in the forest area (Sanctuary plus National Park) – from 297 in 2010 to 302 in 2015. It suggests, approximately 220 lions are prowling outside the forest area.
The Gir forest's actual carrying capacity, ironically, is just around 250, which means more lions are now prowling outside its designated area!

Comments

Unknown said…
It is better to translocate them not by killing them. Lions were all over the north west not just gujarat so regrowing the past habitats nd locating them their shouldnt have any problem. So simply translocate themm!!
Unknown said…
It is better to translocate them not by killing them. Lions were all over the north west not just gujarat so regrowing the past habitats nd locating them their shouldnt have any problem. So simply translocate themm!!

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Delhi HC rules in favour of retired Air Force officer 'overcharged' for Covid treatment

By Rosamma Thomas*  In a decision of May 22, 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of petitioner Group Captain Suresh Khanna who was under treatment at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, between April 28 and May 5, 2021, for a period of eight days, for Covid-19 pneumonia. The petitioner had to pay Rs 3,55,286 as treatment costs, but the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) only reimbursed him for Rs 1,83,748, on the basis of government-approved rates. 

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk  As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah*   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”