Fear of lion poaching gangs haunts Gir region again

Published: Sunday, Apr 24, 2011, 16:32 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Ahmedabad | Agency: DNA

In a suspicious incident, the carcass of a male lion was found in a mutilated condition in the coastal areas of Talaja range in Bhavnagar district late on Friday night. The carcass was reportedly discovered by a team of forest officials on gauchar land in the outskirts of a village.

While activists and sources suspect it to be a case of lion poaching, forest officials caution that it is too early to arrive at any conclusion. They believe it to be a case of man-animal conflict where the lion could have died of shock received from an electric fence put up to safeguard crops in the fields from wild animals.
Electrified fences are now illegal. The carcass is believed to be that of a five to seven-year-old adult lion which could have died 4-5 days back. In-charge wildlife warden and additional principal chief conservator of forests, HS Singh, said the carcass had been eaten away by hyenas which is why it was difficult to determine anything.

“The bones are intact, which might indicate that it is not a case of poaching. However, we are in the process of determining other vital parts of the body which can give us conclusive leads. We suspect villagers would have thrown away the carcass and not informed the foresters because electrical fencing is illegal. Investigation is still going on,” said Singh.

One of the biggest blots on the state’s conservation record is the lion poaching incidents of 2007 in which some lions were killed by inter-state poaching gangs from Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. In December 2010, a gang suspected to be from Karnataka, was busted. They were apprehended selling lion body parts which forest officers later said were fake.

While the local people of Kathiawar are happy to live with the lions and are not known to kill the Big Cats, there have been widespread fears of outsider tribals mixing with the local people and operating in the region ever since the 2007 incident.

According to the latest lion census of 2010, the lion population is thriving in Gujarat against the global trend of depleting numbers. The number of lions, mainly those in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, increased to 411 from 359 counted during the previous census of 2005.

The official lion census covered 5,000 sq km in four districts, but lions have been spotted roaming freely over approximately 10,000 sq km. Gir Wildlife Sanctuary is spread over only 1,600 sq km.
]As many as 53 lions are believed to have made the surrounding areas of Savarkundla, Amreli and Bhavnagar their home. The forest department terms them as 'satellite populations'. The carcass found on Friday is believed to be from this population.

I have heard that the gujarat state govt in their wisdom refuses to allow these lions to be populated in any other pat of India. For whatever reason if this sole population of asiatic lions is wiped out thats the end of that.