Gir lions gifted to Etawah Wildlife Lion Safari Park die; Mulayam's dream project could be in question in next year’s elections

By Manmohan Rai, ET Bureau | Jun 11, 2016, 02.26 AM IST

Of the 11that arrived in September 2014, four have died as have five cubs that were born of the original Gir pride. The ninth death was that of Kuber on June 2.

ETAWAH: The uncertain fate of the Gir lions gifted by Gujarat to the Etawah Wildlife Lion Safari Park, a dream project of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, could possibly be revived as a political slogan in next year's assembly elections. Of the 11that arrived in September 2014, four have died as have five cubs that were born of the original Gir pride. The ninth death was that of Kuber on June 2.

The chief minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had traded barbs over the cats during the 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, even though the original gift may have been regarded as something of a goodwill gesture. "We have caged the Gujarat lions. We will cage the BJP in UP also," Yadav said at his rallies. Modi had shot back: "They asked for Gir lions from Gujarat. We thought they will have the courage to handle it and do something good for the state. But they are unable to control the lions."

The state government, which completes its term in a few months, is furiously trying to ensure that the park gets going before elections next year. When ET visited the park earlier this week, entry was denied despite repeated requests. Later, its director Sanjay Srivastava spoke to ET and said the cause of Kuber's death was canine distemper virus and that the surviving animals are thriving.

"One must understand that it is (a) unique project to rehabilitate lions in a new geographical terrain, which has its own complexities," he said. "Right now, all the remaining seven lions are healthy and we will make this project a success." There are no standard vaccines available against the contagious disease.

Alien Environment for Lions in UP "There is no treatment of canine distemper virus. It breaks down the lion's immunity and it catches other diseases and infections quickly," said AK Sharma, principal scientist at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly. Sharma had conducted the autopsy on Kuber.

While a single reason cannot be attributed to the deaths, being transported to an alien environment would be stressful, leading to loss of immunity and death.

"Biologists have said that lions should be left in the open. They should be allowed to find their pair on their own and mate freely. Stress induced from long-distance travel and a new alien territory could also be a contributing factor," said Sharma.

Ram Lakhan Singh, former director of Project Tiger, said: "The deaths can be from two reasons. Maybe they were not getting the natural diet they needed. Sometimes we provide the best quality food to lions but that may not be suitable for those kept in captivity."

He also raised the possibility that the animals sent were not in prime condition. "Any zoo or breeding centre would only hand over the second-best animals to another state or safari," he said. "They would keep the best for themselves and send the second best to others. Also, lions need a prey base of deer, wild boar etc., which one cannot provide at a safari breeding centre." Two decades ago, Asiatic lions had been introduced in the Chandraprabha sanctuary in Varanasi. Five adults were settled there but died within a few years, he said.

Singh said the Etawah park falls partly in the Chambal ravines, where lions used to be present many decades back and therefore the choice of habitat is justified. But the reason those lions died may have something to do with the fate of the Gir beasts. Rs 1 lakh is spent on the diet of each lion couple, per month.

"Britishers planted the Israel variety of babool in the Chambal region to increase green cover and check soil erosion," he said. "But the Israel babool, which was also planted in the Fisher Forest area of Chambal in which Etawah project falls, has many thorns. They injure the paws of the soft-padded lions, making it difficult to walk. Maybe the lions vanished from the region due to these babools as they would have found it difficult to hunt.

As part of the project, the state forest department has been removing babool trees from the safari area and replacing them with sheesham, semul, bargad and peepal besides introducing grasses.

The park is equipped with a veterinary hospital, breeding centre and quarantine. The animals are also kept in temperature-controlled areas in the breeding centre.

The park was conceived when Mulayam Singh Yadav was chief minister in 2003-2007 with an estimated outlay of Rs 5 crore. It got stuck during the Mayawati government of 2007-12. When Akhilesh Yadav took over in 2012, the project was revived, with Rs 53 crore having been spent on it so far. A corpus of Rs 100 crore has been created by the government to ensure that the park doesn't face a resource crunch even if political fortunes take a different turn in 2017.

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