2 min readLucknowJan 10, 2016 03:51 AM IST
First published on: Jan 10, 2016 at 02:58 AM IST
Days after being brought from Gujarat for breeding purposes, a lioness died at Etawah Lion Safari Saturday morning prompting CM Akhilesh Yadav to remove Principal Forest Conservator (Wildlife) S K Upadhyay with immediate effect. The CM also constituted a high-level committee headed by retired IAS officer V N Garg to investigate the incident and identify other officials and employees responsible for laxity leading to the death of the lioness.
The death of three-and-a-half-year-old lioness Tapasya comes as a major setback as it has once again derailed the process of breeding at the Lion Safari, a dream project of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Tapasya, along with another lioness Jessica and a lion Pataudi, were brought from Gujarat on December 28, director of the Lion Safari Sanjay Srivastava said. Tapasya was taken ill soon after her arrival and was being treated by a local veterinarian as well as doctors from Bareilly, he said. It died on Saturday around 4 am, after which CM Akhilesh Yadav was informed. The post-mortem was performed by a team of doctors from Bareilly, Srivastava added.
Taking note of the incident, Akhilesh directed immediately removal of Upadhyay from the post of PCF (Wildlife), an official spokesperson of the state government said. The spokesperson said Upadhyay has been removed as Tapasya’s “illness was not taken seriously”.
He informed that several water reservoirs in bird sanctuaries at Nawabganj in Unnao, Sandi in Hardoi and Lakh Bahosi at Kannauj have dried up, affecting the arrival of migratory birds. Besides this, there were complaints of poor upkeep of forest areas, the spokesperson said.
Sources said the state government brought the three lions to Lion Safari for breeding as earlier all five cubs born there had died. Four cubs died in July soon after birth while the fifth died in August. Before that, lioness Laxmi and lion Vishnu had died. The Lion Safari now has four lions — Manan, Gigo, Kuber and Pataudi — and four lionesses, Heer, Kunwari, Girishma and Jessica. Lion Safari was conceived in 2005 by Mulayam and its development is Akhilesh’s top priority.
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