74 big cats outside Gir sanctuary

Gandhinagar: The 2010 census has found 74 lions in the revenue areas of Amreli, Bhavnagar and Junagadh.


Forest department officials said that the figure could have gone up to about 85-90 as those in the revenue area around Sasan were included in the count for Gir National Park. They said the state government is in process of developing new sanctuaries, including the Barda Dungar in Porbandar.

Apart from the Gir National Park, the government has declared Paniya, Mitiyala and Girnar as sanctuaries in 1984, 2004 and 2007 respectively. The area of these three sanctuaries put together is around 235 sq km. Another 190 sq km is the area of Barda, which is ready and lions would soon be moved in there.

Officials said the department was waiting for the lions to move to Barda on their own. This has delayed completion of the Barda Dungar project.

Senior forest officials admitted that the human interference was causing problems for the wildlife. With 90-odd lions moving outside the Gir Sanctuary, the attacks on the human and animal were also on the increase.

Revtubha Raijada, former member of the Wild Life Board, said, “Gir’s carrying capacity is just 270-odd lions and as of now it has well above 400 lions. The lions are moving out because they need food and also there may be a fight for the territory.”

He said that for lions, getting prey in the sanctuary was becoming increasingly difficult and it is easier to get a catch outside. “Once the animal gets used to easy killing, it will not move back to the sanctuary. Even if the lions are caught and forced back to the sanctuary, they will sneak out and come closer to the human habitat,” he said.

A senior forest official agreed with him that the animals were moving out of the sanctuary for food and territory. An adult lions requires an area of 30-40 sq km and, hence, there is always a fight for territory which results in the weaker lion coming out of the sanctuary and coming in direct conflict with the human beings, he said

NO LIONS FOR MADHYA PRADESH: MODI

Chief Minister Narendra Modi made out emotion pitch against giving some Gir lions to Madhya Pradesh lions in his first ever official statement on the issue.


While announcing the latest lion census figures on Sunday he said, “After the 2007 poaching incident in Gir, I had visited lion territory and wanted to talk to the people in and around the sanctuary. But they refused to talk to me until I promised them that not a single lion would be given to Madhya Pradesh. When I told them that the lion was killing their cattle, they said they were ready to suffer the loss as the wild cat had become part of their family.”

Modi added that even the Maldharis were ready to sacrifice their cattle to ensure that the lions stay in Gujarat. The Gujarat government has even opposed a PIL in the Supreme Court asking for some wild lions to be shifted to Madhya Pradesh. The court is slated to hear the issue later this week.

Madhya Pradesh government’s argument has been that three to four per cent per cent of the Gir lions die of unnatural death every year. Given these circumstances, there was no harm in shifting five lions to the Kuno-Palpur forest. The counter affidavit filed by Madhya Pradesh has stated that many lions were dying by falling into open wells, poaching and were even getting electrocuted.

However, Modi made it clear that only one unnatural death was reported in the last year and that too a cub had died after falling in a well.

The Gujarat government has been opposing the move on technical grounds as well, stating that tiger and lions cannot stay together. Gujarat has stated in the Supreme Court that relocating lions from the Gir sanctuary could cause irreparable damage to the sociology of lions and asserted that Madhya Pradesh could not manage the relocation as it had failed to protect its own tigers.

Roaring success: Lion numbers leap in Gujarat

Gandhinagar: Increased numbers, improved sex ratio and more areas conquered — the lion king is healthy and prospering in Gujarat. Chief Minister Narendra Modi declared the lion census figures of 2010 on Sunday which showed that there were 411 of the big cats in Gir sanctuary and surrounding areas. This was a jump of 52 over the previous census in 2005.

 

In fact, the lion is reclaiming territory much further away from the Gir sanctuary than originally thought. As many as 33 big cats were counted 250 km from Gir National Park in semiforest areas of Mahuva and Palitana in Bhavnagar. No less than 74 lions are now roaming outside the sanctuary near human habitation. These are fast turning into the new habitats of the big cat. Coastal areas of Rajula and Jafrabad in Amreli have also recorded sizeable population. Wildlife experts are excited about a number of findings. For instance, there are 97 males and 162 females. The rest are cubs. Youth power seems to be on the rise as there were 77 lions aged less than one year. Another 75 of them are categorised as subadult cubs — in the age group of 1-3 years.

 

Modi said the maximum number of lions — 297 — were found in Gir National Park and adjoining areas.

 

The sex ratio too has improved. While there were 1.2 females for every male in 2005, the 2010 census put the number at 1.67 females for every male. Taking a dig at the skewed sex ratio in several parts of the country, including Gujarat, Modi said humans should take a lesson or two from the lions.Among their new dens, the lions have shown a special liking for Girnar sanctuary. Established in 2007, the new abode has 24 lions. In the 2005 census Girnar was not a sanctuary.

 

PROWLING GLORY

1. The big cats recorded 14.4% growth over last census
2. Male-female ratio at one male for every 1.67 females is the highest ever
3. Lions found in Bhavnagar, 250 km from Gir national park
4. 18% found outside the sanctuary
5. Only one incident of a cub falling in an open well in 2009; in past years an average of 10 cubs died annually
6. More than 13,000 open wells capped
7. Census covered 10,000 sq km