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This is my home. Photo: AP
chennai, July 15, 2013MADHULIKA GAUTAMA
The Asiatic lion in Gir is set to move to a new home in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. The sanctuary is a proven historical habitat of the magnificent creature.
India’s Asiatic lions have a new home. There are over 400 Asiatic lions
in India, and Gujarat’s Gir Wildlife Sanctuary is their only home in the
country. The Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, with a
total area of 1,412 sq km, is located 65 km to the south east of
Junagadh in Gujarat. The national park and wildlife sanctuary is
considered to be one of the most important protected areas in Asia. In
1994, the population of lions in the sanctuary was limited to 284. It
was due to the efforts of the State wildlife authorities and
conservationists that the 2010 census showed the population of the lions
to be 411.
Roadblock
While the survival of the Asiatic lion seems to be momentarily secure,
it is important to ensure that the survival of the species is certain.
As protected a sanctuary as Gir may be, a single epidemic or natural
calamity could affect the entire population of the Asiatic lions in Gir,
wiping out the species and causing their extinction. As a result, the
Wildlife Institute of India thought it necessary to transport and shift a
pride or more to the closeby Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.
This move will not only ensure the survival of the Asiatic lion, but
also increase the prey density or availability of prey in Gir for the
remaining prides.
It was in 1994 that the Wildlife Institute of India, located in
Dehradun, carried out a survey (Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project) on
the re-introduction of Asiatic lions and recommended Kuno Sanctuary as
an alternative home for the Asiatic lion. At one point, the big cats
used to roam the vast expanses of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
before human settlements encroached their natural territories.
However, the project recently met with a serious roadblock. The
government of Gujarat refused to part with the Asiatic lions. Calling
them the pride of Gujarat, the local government was adamant on
restricting the population of the Asiatic lion only to Gir, giving
conservationists great cause for concern. The Gujarat government
maintained that the wildlife authorities in Madhya Pradesh would be
unable to protect the lions as they had failed to protect their own
tiger population in the recent past. However, the Supreme Court of
India, the country’s highest judicial authority, ruled in favour of
translocating the lions to Kuno so as to ensure their survival.
The translocation of the Asiatic lion to Kuno has involved several
important steps to ensure that the new additions would have space to
roam as well as large numbers of prey. Twenty-four villages were
relocated at Kuno to make room for the big cats. This step will ensure
that the animal-human conflict is kept to a minimum.
Nevertheless, the translocation of the Asiatic lion to Kuno will be a test case for conservation.
Efforts will also have to be taken to ensure that the endangered species
does not fall prey to poaching and locals will need to be educated and
involved in the conservation process.
To meet with success, the project will need male lions to be moved from
Gir to Kuno every three to five years for the next 30 years.
Period of study spanning 20 years: 1995 to 2015
Three phases:
a. pre-translocation phase (1995-2000),
b. translocation and population and population build-up (2000-2005)
c. follow up and consolidation (2006-2015).
Fact file
The Asiatic Lion is the seventh sub-species of lions found on this planet. It is listed as an endangered species
The lion was once widely distributed through Persia to India
The Nawab of Junagadh was among the first to extend protection to the
Asiatic lion, when their population had fallen to a dozen at the start
of the 20 century
The Asiatic lion is smaller in size in comparison to the African lion
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