Lioness approaches travellers. Watch this video to know what happened

In the video, the lioness can be seen walking towards the travellers and switching from the left side of the road to its right.

lioness approaches travellers, lion video, lion in Gir forest, Gujarat, lion infront of scooter, indian express

The 21-second clip was shared by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda

A chilling video of a lioness approaching two people on a scooter on a mud road has been doing the rounds on Twitter. In the video, the lioness can be seen walking towards the travellers and switching from the left side of the road to its right.

The video has been captured by the pillion rider, who is heard panicking and chanting the name of some guru. The big cat comes closer to them, crosses the mud road and jumps to the adjacent field.

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Co travellers on a Village road. Happens in India😊 pic.twitter.com/XQKtOcEstF

— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) February 14, 2022

The 21-second clip was shared by Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda. “Co travellers on a Village road. Happens in India,” he tweeted.

Nanda also replied in the comments section that the incident happened in Gujarat even as one of his followers said that it is from the Gir forest in the state. Some users raised concern over human-animal conflict while others said that such incidents are common in the state.

Brave man and women (pillion rider). It takes lot of guts to stand still like that, even though the lioness was in no mood to attack, it just want to move away.

— Praveen vaddepally (@Praveen_Writer) February 14, 2022

This is very common in Gir.
At times they even get scared and run away when Human tries to defend.

— Kuldeep Verma (@Anu_224) February 15, 2022

Lions don't attack humans unless they are provoked.
Its the same with almost all wild cats except those that have become man eaters or they mistake humans for other small animals.
They ideally want to avoid humans as much and as often as possible.

— Yash (@Yash2297) February 14, 2022

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In July last year, a video of a pack of lions roaming on the streets in Gujarat went viral. In the clip, a group of five lions, most likely a family with two young cubs, were seen walking down the road at night.

Asiatic lions are listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and categorised as endangered on International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. They were once found in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, however, currently, the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is their only haven. Dry deciduous forest and open grassy scrublands in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat is their habitat, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says.

Poaching and habitat fragmentation pose threat to the lions. Inside the Gir Protected Area (PA), there are three major roads and a railway track, leading to human-animal conflict. More than 200 lions live outside the protected area and incidents of the big cats dying by falling into the unguarded wells in the area have been reported, according to WWF.