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: March 5, 2007
Govt silent on shifting lion base

The Asiatic lion, frequently found straying from its habitat, may get a bigger home by expanding the Gir sanctuary, the state government told the Assembly on Monday. However, it remained silent on the question of shifting the lions outside Gujarat.

Forest minister Mangubhai Patel admitted in the Assembly that lions were found straying outside the Gir sanctuary right up to Bhavnagar, but he avoided a question by Asarwa MLA Pradeepsinh Jadeja on whether there was a move to shift the lions outside Gujarat. Patel said that the big cats were found straying as far as Girnar, Hippavadali, Jesar, Palitana, Sutrapada, Una and Kodinar spread over Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts.

Replying to another question, Patel said the recent census had pegged the total number of lions at 359, which was 32 more compared to the 2001 census.The 2005 census had revealed that lions had moved out of the sanctuary because of the increase in population. Experts feel that the Gir sanctuary was adequate to accommodate only upto 290 lions, which means the population had overshot by 70 lions compared to the size of the habitat.

Patel, however, maintained that the government was giving the beasts adequate security and was exploring various proposals to extend the protected sanctuary area to parts of Bhavnagar district. The government was educating people in the area where these beasts stray, in a bid to sensitise them. To another question by BJP MLA Mansukh Mandaviya, Patel said that straying big cats had killed 146 animals in the last two years in Bhavnagar district alone.

Of these, 68 incidents were those of lions preying on cattle. Patel clarified that the big cats were not moving out of the sanctuary in search of prey, but could not reason why the lions were straying despite the authorities ensuring adequate prey for the beasts.