The Asiatic lion news archive - 2000

Stories relating to the Asiatic lion and updates on the captive breeding programme from 2000.

DATELINE : July 19th 2000
Gir lions to be shifted to adjoining forest

AHMEDABAD: The lions at the Gir National Park and Sanctuary will soon be rid of their cramped existence, with a second home planned for them in the adjoining Barda forest range.

The state forest department, jolted by the death of 12 tigers at Orissa's Nandankanan zoo, is working out a plan to shift some of the 300-odd Girl lions.

The move is also aimed at scuttling a project initiated by the Wild Life Institute of India, Dehradun, to transfer some of the lions to the Palpur Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

The institute had worked out the plan five years ago to insulate lions against outbreak of an epidemic, enemy attack or a natural calamity which, it was feared, could wipe out their entire population. The state government had, however, opposed relocation of the lions in Madhya Pradesh claiming they were an exclusive heritage of the state.

The controversy had assumed political dimensions with Gujarat equating the proposed transfer of lions to the adamant stand taken by the neighbouring state on the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). Locals of the area had also protested gainst the move.

The sanctuary and national park, spread over 1882 sq km, has been plagued by the burgeoning population of lions coupled with a human population explosion.

The Nandankanan incident jolted the forest department into action and it is now trying to speed up the project to shift some of lions to Barda.

A proposal for developing a second habitat for the Asiatic lion had been considered in the early 90s by the Centre, which feared that concentration of lions in one place could endanger their lives.

The sanctuary at Kuno in north MP was found to have a habitat similar to that of the Gir forest and a Rs 10-crore project was sanctioned to develop it as a second lion retreat. The lions are to be relocated in 2001 under the project.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh is taking a personal interest in the project, telling the Times of India recently: "It is wrong to equate the lions with Narmada. I have been to Gir and I know that there is a population problem there."

Gujarat forest officials, however, say the population of lions has been growing steadily and they are now spreading out to new areas like Kodinar, Girnar and Barda.

The officials argue it won't be advisable to send lions to a new environment and say a similar experiment in the 1950s to send lions to the Chandraprabha Park in Uttar Pradesh had failed, with the animals dying.

"There is a mutual trust between man and lions in Gujarat which does not exist anywhere else," said a senior official.

The forest department claims the lions are finding the Barda habitat suitable and have made their home there. "It has to be a natural spread, not an artificial one," an official explains.

Source : The Times News Service.