Watch video | Pride of 8 lions strays into Gujarat village

“At around 1 am on Tuesday, dogs started barking in the streets and cows in the houses of farmers started mooing, waking up the villagers. When some youths went to see what was happening, they witnessed a pride of eight lions roaming in the village,” Sana Vagh, a resident of Rampara village and husband of Rampara village sarpanch Sonal Vagh, told The Indian Express.

Vagh said the sight of the big cats was recorded on CCTV cameras installed at the residence of one Sadul Lala Vagh in Paldi Sheri near the entrance of the village, where there is also a residential school with 150 children.

“Lions have been entering our village almost every night for the past year. Therefore, around 5,000 residents of Rampara are accustomed to waking up to the alarms raised by cows and dogs who smell their presence from a distance,” 48-year-old Vagh, who works in a transport firm but lives in the village, said. “We immediately informed local officers from the forest department who came rushing to the village and drove the lions away.”

Vagh said about 50 per cent of the residents in the village are involved in agriculture while the rest work at Pipavav port or surrounding units allied to port activities. “Farmers dare not go to their farms at night, even if their crops need irrigation. In fact, they have to remain alert even during the daytime as lions could be resting on the edge of their farms,” he said, adding, “Lions are almost everywhere in our village. Three youths of our village were booked by the forest department after they shot a video of the big cats when they encountered them on a road a few months ago.”

Rampara is located on the border of Pipavav port area boundary and falls in Rajula range of Shetrunji wildlife division.

Yograjsinh Rathod, range forest officer (RFO) of Rajula range, said lions are thriving in this area. “Bherai Vidi, a reserve forest, is located near Rampara village. Also, a huge tract of land allotted to Torrent Power is covered by a thicket of gando baval (prosopis juliflora) and other shrubs, providing an ideal habitat for lions. Therefore, the big cats are thriving in this area,” said Rathod.

Vagh said the lions often prey on stray cattle in the village, but also conceded that the big cats keep farmers’ crops safe from blue bulls and other ungulates which raid farms at night.

“Our staff makes all efforts to prevent lions from entering the village by keeping track of their movements,” the RFO said. “The forest department has engaged a man from Rampara. We have also deployed an experienced wildlife tracker in the area to keep a tab on the movement of lions.”

The forest officer added that the bigger concern was the nearby coastal highway, Pipavav-Surendranagar railway line, and roads connecting Rampara with other villages. “We have to ensure that lions don’t stray on the roads and on the railway track, otherwise accidents can occur, leading to casualties,” the RFO said.

Incidentally, there are incidents of lions getting injured or killed after being hit by trains on this railway line every year.

Gir lions can be found in the Gir forest and other protected areas spread across Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts in Gujarat’s Saurashtra area. The lions roaming this area are the only wild population of lions outside Africa. In 2020, the population of Gir lions was estimated to be 674 by the state forest department.