283 lions, 333 leopards died in state in two yrs: Gujarat Govt

The Gujarat government also told the House that 3,33 leopards died during the two-year period across the state. Twenty seven per cent of these deaths were also caused by unnatural reasons.

In a written reply to a question posed by Congress MLA Vikram Maadam during Question Hour, government stated there are 674 lions living in the wild, in and around the Gir Sanctuary in the state, as of December 31, 2021. This includes 206 males, 309 females and 29 cubs. Of these, 345 lions were inside Gir Sanctuary, while 329 lions, or almost half of the total population, were outside the sanctuary, the government said.

It said a total of 283 Asiatic lions died due to various natural and unnatural causes in the past two years. Of these, 29 lions succumbed to accidents, three of which happened inside the Gir Sanctuary. While the other 254 deaths were due to natural causes, there were none due to poaching/hunting. Of the total deaths, 159 lions died in 2020 and 124 in 2021.

In March last year, the state government had informed the Assembly that 313 Asiatic lions had died in the preceding two years. Of these, 154 were reported in 2019 and 159 in 2020. Taken together with the 124 deaths reported in 2021, a total of 437 lion deaths have been officially reported from the state — home to the world’s only population of wild lions outside Africa.

As is the case with a few other big cat species, survival rates of lion cubs in Gir is estimated to be low. Cub deaths account for the bulk of the overall deaths due to natural causes. Lions are territorial animals and male lions fight for territories as well as to control groups of females, leading to some deaths, especially of cubs, say forest officers. Deaths during in-fights and due to diseases are considered natural.

Over the past decade, stray incidents of lions being run over by goods trains between Amreli and Pipapav port in Amreli district were also reported. In 2021, two lions were killed on the railway track while at least two others were run over by vehicles on roads in Amreli. Deaths on railway tracks, roads or due to electrocution, etc are classified as unnatural.

At the same time, notwithstanding the average 100 deaths per annum in recent years, the lion population in the state is thriving, as per official records, thanks to conservation efforts of the state government. The lion population was estimated to be 411 in 2010 but jumped to 674 in 2020 — an increase of 60 per cent in a decade.

Lions have now established their permanent territories in Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts in the Saurashtra region. They often visit adjoining districts such as Rajkot and Porbandar, and as per the 2020 Poonam Avlokan, which substituted the formal lion census, movement of lions was recorded in a 22,000-square-kilometre area of Saurashtra.

In a separate reply, the Gujarat government, without giving a detailed break-up of the causes, said the 29 unnatural deaths of lions have been caused due to road and railway accidents, from electric shock, by falling into open wells and drowning. The government, which has been covering open wells in the areas near Gir Sanctuary for the last several years by providing financial assistance to farmers to construct parapets around the wells, stated there are still around 4,376 open-wells in and around the sanctuary. In order to keep a tab on lion deaths, government said it erected a chain-link fence on both sides of the Rajula-Pipavav railway track. Speed-breakers and sign boards have also been installed on public roads passing through the sanctuary. Radio collaring of lions, covering of open wells in lion landscape, night patrolling, CCTV cameras and appointment of veterinary officers, lion ambulances and wild animal treatment centres, are the other measures taken to safeguard lions in and around Gir Sanctuary.

The government said it has also sent a “Project Lion” proposal to the Centre for necessary permissions. The proposal, on the lines of Project Tiger and Project Elephant, is meant to provide greater protection to the lion population in the wild and use modern technologies in developing its habitat.

Leopard deaths

Apart from lions, 333 leopards have also died across the state in the past two years Of the total leopard deaths, 27 per cent has been due to unnatural reasons, government stated without elaborating on the reasons.