Asiatic Lion Information Centre

The Asiatic lion news archive - 2007

Stories relating to the Asiatic lion and updates on the captive breeding programme from 2007.

DATELINE: February 15, 2007
Man-animal conflicts? Vanishing Herds to rescue

To reduce mortality rate of Gir’s Asiatic lions and bring down frequency of man-animal conflicts, the State Forest Department and the Vanishing Herds Foundation (VHF) have come up with a number of measures keeping in mind the concerns of locals living in the vicinity of the Gir Sanctuary.

According to VHF governing body member Arobinda Sinha Roy, the VHF has begun a project to construct barricades around open wells in Amreli district. “Open wells in Saurashtra region do not have protective walls around them,” said Sinha Roy adding that in recent years, 20 lions and cubs have died after falling into wells. The project began in 2006. So far, we have barricaded 12 wells in Amreli district. By March 2007, we hope to complete barricading at least 100 wells. After that, we will focus on barricading 250 wells every 12 months,” said Sinha Roy.

The State Forest Department has been helping the VHF identify the wells, he said adding: “Our strategy is simple. Once a well has been identified, we enter into an agreement with villagers, who then construct the walls. We provide the money and monitor the construction.”

The VHF has also placed a global positioning system (GPS) along the wells for audit purposes. “The project is quite challenging as construction of each barricade involves expenditure of approximately Rs 12,000. There are around 1,000 open wells in Amreli district alone,” he added. Moving on to incidents of man-animal conflict, Sinha Roy said,”Lions venturing out of Gir more often than not target livestock of maldharis. The attack on cattle often provokes maldharis to poison or electrocute the lions. There are around 7,500 people and 14,000 livestock in the area around the Gir sanctuary.”

According to Sinha Roy, man-animal conflicts can be attributed to delay in compensation to people whose kin or livestock die in man-animal conflicts or are carried away by lions.

“The compensation offered by the government takes about six to seven months to reach the people. The VHF is planning to set up its own ‘float fund’ of Rs 5-6 lakh so that people are compensated in a week’s time. An MoU is being worked out with the State Forest Department in this regard. The MoU proposes that as soon as a ‘kill’ is surveyed by the forest department outside the protected area, the VHF will be given a copy of the order. The foundation would then settle claims within two-three days, for which it would be reimbursed by the government. We feel that such a measure would go a long way in minimising man-animal conflicts,” he said.

Confirming this, State Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Pradip Khanna said that while the department had increased the compensation amount by about 40 per cent for ‘kills’ made by lions last year, the tie-up with VHF would help in speedy disbursal of the same.

Saving Gir’s Asiatic lions to be focus of symposium

Animal conservation experts from around the world and the State Forest Department will come out with strategies to protest the Asiatic lion in Gujarat, during a two-day symposium which begins on February 27. The symposium has been organised by the Vanishing Herds Foundation (VHF). VHF governing board member Arobinda Sinha Roy said that the Foundation felt that access to latest global expertise on conservational methodologies would be of great importance. “Firstly, at least three major roads pass through the area protected for the lions. Secondly, as many as 8,00,000 people visit four temples in the area on an annual basis, causing pollution. Inbreeding of lions is a major issue, too,” he said adding that in order to restore the species as many as 250 pairs of lions are needed.