The Asiatic lion news archive - 2004

Stories relating to the Asiatic lion and updates on the captive breeding programme from 2004.

DATELINE: December 17, 2004
Queens of Gir detest being collared

RAJKOT: Lioness Ramzana has deserted her pride and her two cubs and is wandering through the jungle alone. She is among seven lionesses in the Gir forest of Junagadh who has a radio collar tied around her neck to enable researchers to study her behaviour.

This has wildlife activists disturbed because they feel the radio collar brings about a noticeable change in the beasts' behaviour. Gir Nature Club's Amit Jethwa claims Ramzana's cubs have also left the group and cannot be spotted. Moreover, some experts feel tagging a lioness sometimes proves counterproductive for the researcher since the animal's real behaviour is not manifested.

A member of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, Meena Venkatraghavan, is studying the behavioural pattern of lionesses in Gir through these radio collars. Former principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Sanat Chavan says, "The animal always makes efforts initially to remove the belt and when it fails to remove it, it gets disturbed and starts behaving in an abnormal way. The animal even moves away from the group, even getting agitated at times."

According to Chavan, studies have been conducted on the change in the animal's nature. Conservator of forests (Vadodara) HS Singh says, "Continuous use of such external material on an animal can definitely bring about changes." Chavan recalled a study by Canada-based Paul Jauslin, who had never used any such device.

"His study on the Asiatic lion is rated the best so far. Further, the animal also has to be tranquilised for the radio collar which also affects its health," Chavan adds. However, Junagadh chief conservator of forests Bharat Pathak says radio collars were permitted by the Centre after its application was scrutinised by the state government.

"I do not have any knowledge of any adverse affect on animal behaviour so far," says Pathak. He said the WII had also approved the use of radio collars and they were used all over the world for research. Venkatraghavan refused to comment on the issue.

Her project supervisor and scientist at WII, YD Jhala, said from Dehradun, "The collars used in Gir are standard VHF radio collars weighing around 450 grams and are in use since 2001".

According to him, "As per rules, the weight of the radio collar should not be more than five per cent of the weight of the animal and lions weigh around 130 kg. So this is insignificant."

Source: Times of India