Saurashtra roars for the lion

Protests, against poaching deaths in Gir; corporates offering rewards for leads

Protest fasts in Junagadh, rallies in Kodinar, prayers at the Somnath temple. Corporates are offering financial assistance to investigators, and environment groups are demanding that poachers be hanged as a detterent. All of Saurashtra, it seems, is speaking up against the killing of Asiatic lions in the Gir sanctuary.

In less than a month, six lions were found hunted down. Three carcasses were found in the Babaria range, on the edge of the sanctuary, on March 3; the skinned remains of another three were found on March 30. This is besides the deaths of lions that fell into wells or died otherwise.

But the anger in the Saurashtra region, which takes pride in being home to the Kesari, as the lion is called here, is chiefly directed at poachers.

8220;Poachers should not be spared at any cost,8221; the Raventgiri Nature Club says in a memorandum submitted to the Conservator of Forests in Junagadh on Monday. Its members held a protest fast outside the conservator8217;s office. Some environment groups are even suggesting that poaching should be punished with the death sentence.

The Asiatic Lions Protection Society has demanded a high-level inquiry by an expert committee and said it would bear all the expenses of conducting the inquiry. It has also offered awards of Rs 21,000 for tip-offs leading to the arrest of poachers.

In Sasan, businessmen, shop-owners, schools, private offices have all decided to remain closed on Tuesday to protest against the death of lions. Protest marches, demonstrations, and token bandhs are also being observed in Gondal, Upleta, Kodinar, and other towns.

For some, such as the association of taxi owners, the lion means a livelihood: most of them get business from tourists arriving to see the lion in its sanctuary.

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Even the maldharis, cattle rearers who live in nesses or hamlets in the national park area and have been blamed for the animal-human conflict, are speaking out against poachers.

8220;Lions are like family members for maldharis and others settled in the periphery of the Gir sanctuary,8221; says B. Maldev, a maldhari leader. 8220;The killing of lions is as painful to us as that of near and dear ones. We are very sad. Never in the past have such things happened.8221;

There was a time when the lions roaming in the Saurashtra region were countless. Then, in 1911, the count went down to just 11, which prompted the Nawab of Junagadh to begin conservation efforts that won praise from Lord Curzon and from around the world. In 2005 the lion population touched the highest-ever mark of 359. But the death of 13 lions in the past few months has caused alarm, and even ordinary people are showing concern.

SMSes are being sent out on saving the lion, ads with 8220;Save the Lion8221; messages are being placed in newspapers, and corporate groups like Reliance Industries Ltd have offered money for building parapets around wells in villages inside the national park, in which many a lion has drowned.

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8220;We are ready to do whatever it takes to protect the Asiatic Lion, of which the only home is Saurashtra,8221; says Asiatic Lions Protection Society chairman Kishore Kotecha. 8220;The killings and deaths should not be taken lightly.8221;

Man linked to poaching arrested

JUNAGADH: A man believed to be linked to the two recent instances of poaching in the Gir sanctuary was arrested on Monday, police said. Though CID Crime officers who are assisting the forest department in the investigation were not willing to give out his name, they said he was 30 years old and lived in a cluster of hutments in the Babaria range. They say he is the local link who helped the poachers kill and escape successfully.