Nimesh Khakhariya | TNN | Updated: Jun 26, 2019, 9:02 IST
RAJKOT: The frequent killings of easily available domestic cattle by lions in villages of Saurashtra have often set off discussions that these wild cats could lose their hunting ability.
But
the forest department desperately wants people to shed this notion. On
Monday, the Amreli forest department tweeted a photograph of a lion cub
sitting beside a nil gai (blue bull) that was injured in an attack by
its mother. The photograph was clicked by some forest department staffer
in Amreli taluka 10 days ago.
A view in greater Gir, wild with wild," the department posted along with the picture.
At
a first glance, it looks like the lion cub had become weak and sitting
beside its prey while the blue bull is not running to protect itself.
However, officials said this was not the case at all.
A senior
official of Amreli division, not wanting to be named, told TOI, "A
lioness had hunted the blue bull and trained its two-month-old cub too
which is seen sitting beside the prey. The lioness was nearby but could
not captured in the frame. Blue bull's hind legs were broken because of
the lioness attack and that's why it could not run."
"We have
tweeted this picture to prove that lion's instinct to hunt herbivorous
animal is maintained. A perception building in some quarters is that
lions are preying more on domestic animals, which is not true."
The forest officials claimed that there is enough population of blue bull in outside protected area.
Priyavrat Gadhvi, a member of state wildlife
board said, "It is true that availability of cattle is more in the
non-protected areas and they are an easy prey for the lions. But that
can't be constructed as weakening of their wild abilities."
"It's a case of opportunism or opportunistic preying. They are are no way losing their wild hunting abilities," he added.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/asiatic-lions-not-losing-their-hunting-ability/articleshow/69951598.cms
No comments:
Post a Comment