Gir in Gujarat, the last abode of Asiatic lions in Asia, has lost an
alarmingly large number of the endangered wild cats in two years. On March
28, a report of the Comptroller and
Auditor-General of India (CAG) was tabled in the Gujarat Assembly. It
listed huge “flaws” in lion conservation efforts in the State.
What happened?
Forest Minister Ganpat Vasava
told the Assembly that 184 lions had died in two years: 104 in 2016 and 80 in
2017. As many as 32 died of “unnatural causes” like falling into wells or getting run over by trains in the same period at
the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. The dead included cubs too. The high number of
deaths prompted the High Court to take suo motu cognizance of
the issue. The court took the authorities to task this March, directing them to
get back on measures being taken by the Environment and Forest Department to
ensure adequate protection to lions.
Why the conflict?
Significantly, the number of lion attacks on livestock and humans in
2016 and 2017 was pegged at 398, raising serious
concerns about a man-lion conflict in eight to nine districts in the
coastal Saurashtra region. Responding to a question by Congress legislator
Gyasuddin Sheikh, Mr. Vasava admitted that wells
without parapet walls often became death traps for the animals.
There are 27 open wells in Amreli
district near the sanctuary, and the government has promised to build parapet
walls “as soon as possible.” Several open wells have already been secured. The
other preventive measures are construction
of fences along the rail track in Amreli district and building speedhumps on
roads in the sanctuary.
Why no new habitat?
As per the 2015 census, there
were 523 lions in and around the Gir sanctuary. Unfortunately, though the total population of Asiatic lions increased
from 359 in 2005 to 523 in 2015, no new protected habitat was approved by the
State government since 2008. As stated in the CAG report, the number of
lions outside the protected area in 2011 was 108, which increased by 54.6% to
167 in 2015. The Gir Protected Area includes the Gir, Girnar, Paniya and Mitiyala sanctuaries
and the Gir National Park. To provide a safe corridor for the lions moving out of the Gir Protected Area,
the Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) had
proposed a new sanctuary spread over 30,000 hectares in Amreli and Bhavnagar
districts in 2005. Later, the plan was revised, and the new region was proposed
to be a conservation reserve (CR) spread across 10,953 hectares. The CAG
observed that as on May 2017, the Revenue
Department had not transferred 4,800 hectares of wasteland to the Forest
Department for setting up the conservation reserve. “Thus, the declaration
of the lion habitat area as a conservation reserve is pending despite the lapse
of 11 years,” it said. It questioned the non-approval of a new protected area
despite “high instances of deaths of lions” in their present habitat. The CAG
also pointed out that the genome mapping
project was being handled by an agency which did not possess the expertise,
and the progress was slow.
What is their future?
The government, which has always
taken pride in showcasing Gujarat as the
only habitat of Asiatic lions, refuses to translocate some of them to Madhya
Pradesh despite a Supreme Court order. It must make sincere efforts to
provide adequate protection to the animals moving out to non-protected areas.
It must increase the size of the
protected areas to prevent more lions from dying, wildlife experts say.
Credit: The Hindu Explains
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