In Gujarat govt’s blueprint for saving lions: hiring informers, increasing safaris

The state government is also considering to fit radio collars on every lion to track their movements.

In the last two years, at least 38 cases of illegal activities, like conducting lion shows and harassing the felines by chasing them by vehicles in and around the Gir wildlife sanctuary have come to light.

By: Express News Service | Gandhinagar | Updated: June 20, 2018 8:26:20 am

Nearly a week after the Gujarat High Court sought “specific information” on the steps taken to prevent lion deaths, the state government on Tuesday announced a range of decisions for the conservation of Asiatic Lion in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.
Stating that in the last two years, at least 38 cases of illegal activities, like conducting lion shows and harassing the felines by chasing them by vehicles in and around the Gir sanctuary have come to light, the government has decided to employ police department like “informers” to curb such incidents.
“The government is sensitive and committed to the conservation of lions in the state. And for that a committee headed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has taken a number of decisions… Like police department, we have decided to employ informers to curb such incidents. It has also been decided to impose strict criminal sections of hunting with maximum punishment of seven years against such miscreants who harass lions,” Forest Minister Ganpat Vasava told mediapersons at a press conference here, adding that harassment of lions by such illegal activities was one of the important issues addressed by the committee.
Vasava said that the Forest Department, in collaboration with the Tourism Department, has also decided to increase the number of lion safaris in the protected areas for tourists. “People tend to see lions through illegal activities like lion shows when they cannot see them in (legal) safaris. So, we have decided to increase the number of such safari permits from 750 to 1,110 in a week,” he said.
The Forest Minister also announced to develop a new tourism zone at Chikhalkuba village of Amreli district in order “to decrease the load of tourists on Sasan Tourism Zone”. “The lion safaris will start in the sanctuary area of Girnar mountain. Simultaneously, new safari routes will be added to Sasan zone,” he added.
Meanwhile, the PTI reported that the state government is also considering to fit radio collars on every lion to track their movements. “The issue of placing radio collars on each lion (in the sanctuary) is under consideration and a decision to this effect will be taken soon,” the PTI quoted Minister of State for Forests and Environment Ramanlal Patkar as saying.
The government is also set to declare an area of 109 square kilometre from Amreli and Bhavnagar districts as Conservation Reserve under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act. These are the areas which have been witnessing movement of lions outside the sanctuary area.
Under the Act, four kinds of protective areas can be notified — sanctuary, national park, conservation reserve and community reserve.
In another important administrative decision, Vasava said that the entire area of lion habitat will be brought under the single Junagadh Circle. Till now, the areas of lion habitats fell under three circles — Junagadh Wildlife Circle, Junagadh Regional Circle and Rajkot Circle. Vasava said that apart from the Gir Sanctuary, lions have settled or mobility in revenue areas and small forest areas. And therefore, a new division will be set up in Amreli under the control of Chief Conservator of Forest (Junagadh Wildlife Circle), covering nine talukas of Amreli and Bhavnagar districts.
Gir Wildlife Sanctuary covers total area of 1,625 square kilometre. However, lions have spread their habitat even in revenue areas surrounding the sanctuary and the forest area, totalling around 2,2000 square kilometre.
The government’s decisions follow the High Court’s order last Wednesday, which directed it to file a fresh affidavit, giving details of the specific steps taken in the last couple of years to stop death of lions in and around the Gir forest caused by open wells, electrocution, vehicular traffic among others.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/in-gujarat-govts-blueprint-for-saving-lions-hiring-informers-increasing-safaris-5225011/

 

Every Gir lion to be radio-collared

The Gujarat government decided to use radio-collars the way they are for tigers in various sanctuaries of the... Read More

Ashish Chauhan | TNN | Updated: Jun 19, 2018, 06:32 IST

AHMEDABAD: Every movement of Asiatic lions in the Gir forests — their only abode in the world — will be registered with the state government, which will soon fix a radio-collar on every big cat in the sanctuary spread across Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, and Amreli districts.
In a meeting held on Monday, the state government decided to use radio-collars the way they are for tigers in various sanctuaries of the country.

“In a meeting headed by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, it was decided that it has become necessary to intensify the protection drive for the lions.

The use of radio-collars will be an essential part of the plan,” said minister of state for forests, Ramanlal Patkar. “The device will be GPS-enabled and will contain records of each lion, including its age and territory. By tracking the lions, we will be able to protect them.”

Patkar said that the plan will be implemented in a month, with over 600 Asiatic lions being radio-collared. Highly placed sources said that the project cost will cross over Rs 2 crore.

If anything suspicious is noticed in the movement of lions — for instance, if a lion seems stuck at one point for too long — forest guards or cops will be sent to rescue the animal.

The minister said that the lion population has risen to over 600 from 513 (census 2015 figure). Sources said that the initiative had become necessary in the wake of 57 unnatural deaths of lions over the past five years. Recently, a video went viral in which a lioness was seen being lured with chicken in the jungle.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/every-gir-lion-to-be-radio-collared/articleshow/64640151.cms

Gujarat: Making video clips of lions will now amount to hunting

Asiatic lion at Kankaria zoo in Ahmedabad.

Himanshu Kaushik | TNN | Updated: Jun 19, 2018, 20:56 IST

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat government on Tuesday declared that anybody harassing the Asiatic lions by organizing illegal lion shows, chasing lions on vehicles and making illegal video clips of the Big Cats will now attract serious penal action under section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Government warned that those caught disturbing the king of the jungle will invite imprisonment of up to seven years.

The government also announced to form a single authority to manage the entire lionscape which is currently governed by four different authorities.

State forest minister Ganpat Vasava said: “We have asked forest officials to invoke hunting charges under section 9 of the act as any illegal activity such as holding illegal lion shows, harassing lions in speeding vehicles and even making clips of the Big Cats on mobile phones falls in the ambit of hunting."
"Hunting, as per the act does not mean only killing of lions, and also applies to harassing of the Schedule I animal. Until now, we were only imposing section of trespassing," Vasava added.

Gujarat governent faced severe criticism recently after series of videos showing locals pestering lions by offering them chicken or live bait as part of illegal lion shows went viral. Earlier, videos of youths chasing lions on speeding bikes and cars also had gone viral underscoring that the king of the jungle was constantly troubled by humans.

In wake of vocal attacks from different stakeholders, Vijay Rupani-led state govenrment held a review meeting to chalk out better strategy for conservation of lions on Monday.

On Tuesday, Vasava declared 13-point conservation plan to put a stop to menacingly rising man-animal conflict in Asiatic lion's habitat which has a population of 523 lions as per Census 2015 spread over 22,000 sq km across 1500 villages in Gir sanctuary in Junagadh and adjascent districts of Amreli, Bhavnagar, Gir-Somnath and Porbandar.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/making-video-clips-of-lion-will-now-amount-to-hunting/articleshow/64652336.cms

Guj govt mulls radio-collaring of every lion in Gir sanctuary

Press Trust of India  |  Ahmedabad  Last Updated at June 19, 2018 19:45 IST

Alarmed by the deaths of 32 lions in and around Gir wildlife sanctuary due to "unnatural causes" in the last two years, the Gujarat government is now considering to fit radio collars on every lion to track their movements.

Talking to PTI, Minister of State for Forests and Environment Ramanlal Patkar today said that the issue of using radio collars on each lion was discussed during a meeting held yesterday.

"The issue of placing radio collars on each lion (in the sanctuary) is under consideration and a decision to this effect will be taken soon," he said.
Besides, for the protection of these felines, the government is also taking some other measures, like cracking down on unauthorised agents who organise illegal lion shows and people trying to take selfies with the animals. The government is also trying to create a network of informers.
These decisions were taken during yesterday's meeting, which was also attended by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, state Forests and Environment Minister Ganpat Vasava told reporters in Gandhinagar today.
He said for better co-ordination of security-related issues, the Gir forest, which is spread over the area of 109 square kms covering three different districts, will now be brought under the jurisdiction of Junagadh forest authorities.
"Lions are also found residing outside the forest area, and therefore a special division will be created under Chief Conservator of Forest Junagadh (at Amreli district). That division will look after areas such as Lilya, Kukawav, Jafrabad and Rajula of Amreli district and Mahua, Jesar, Palitana and Talaja of Bhavnagar district," he said.
"With the increased flow of tourists at Gir we have come to know that some people are organising illegal lion shows for tourists. Incidents of harassment of lions or being chased on vehicles have also come to our notice," Vasava said.
"Now, those found indulging in any such activities will be charged under section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which has a provision of imprisonment of up to seven years," he said.
A network of informers will be created to find out about people indulging in such act, he said.
The government has also decided to increase facilities for tourists by creating new tourists zones like Chikhalkuba and areas near Girnar mountain. Earlier, tourists were only allowed to enter Sasan Gir and Devalia forest areas to see lions.
"Also, the state government has decided to allow more number of visitors and vehicles in the forest areas now," Vasava said.
Recently, the Gujarat high court had also taken suo motu cognisance of the number of lion deaths in Gir and sought the government's explanation.
As per the figures, as many as 184 lions- with 32 due to 'unnatural causes'- had died in two years- 2016 and 2017 and the high court had issued notices to the state and central governments over the issue.
As per the 2015 census, there were 523 lions in the state, the only abode of Asiatic lions.
The government had told the state Assembly that there are four reasons behind the "unnatural" death of lions-- road accidents, railway tracks passing through the forest areas, wells with damaged or no parapets and electric fences around agricultural lands.


(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/guj-govt-mulls-radio-collaring-of-every-lion-in-gir-sanctuary-118061900972_1.html

Gujarat govt to have more tourims zone and increased permits

Himanshu Kaushik | TNN | Jun 18, 2018, 19:02 IST

AHMEDABAD: The state government in order to curb illegal lion show outside the forest area has decided to increase the number of tourist permits and has also decided to have two new tourism zone one in Chital Kuba and another one in Girnar Sanctuary.

Senior officials who were part of the meeting, held on Monday in Gandhinagar, said, “the chief minister Vijay Rupani had a meeting with the senior officials and during the meeting it was decided to increase the number of tourists permit to 150 on regular days and 180 from the existing 150 on weekdays.”

The official said that it was decided that there are three trips during the day in Sasan, the first one at 6am second one at 9am and the third in the afternoon at 3pm. The official said that instead of permitting 30 vehicles at 6am, 9am and 3pm, the department will permit 50 vehicles at one go. Similarly, on weekends the same will be increased from 50 to 60 vehicles.
The officials said that this was being done to ensure that tourist get more permit and hence they stay away from such illegal shows.

Meanwhile it was also decided to carry out a feasibility study for setting up a tourism zone on the lines of Sasan one each at Chital Kuba near Tulsishyam and another one at Girnar. The government has asked the forest department to carry out the study and send a proposal to the government of India for approval at the earliest.

The government has been under pressure after a viral video had exposed how locals and other miscreants harass and exploit the pride of the state of Gujarat, its Asiatic lions. The video not only shows locals insulting the proud animal and teasing it for their entertainment, it also shows glimpses of illegal lion shows that are allegedly conducted by residents of the region.

However, there has been a resistance from the forest department against increasing the number of permits.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/gujarat-govt-to-have-more-tourims-zone-and-increased-permits/articleshow/64636374.cms

Gir at airport: Lions roar when provoked!

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport (File Photo)

TNN | Jun 18, 2018, 04:48 IST 

AHMEDABAD: Flyers at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in the city will soon hear the roar of lions amid the roar of jet engines.
Ahmedabad airport authorities have recreated Gir jungle in the area between the arrival and departure zones of the airport. Models of Asiatic lions, deer, leopard, and birds have been installed in the airport jungle. The display also features chital and blackbuck. A pride of lions drinks from a waterhole.

Manoj Gangal, the airport director, said that the display is interactive. If visitors gesture at these lions, they roar while one can hear the cries of other Gir dwellers. The Gir jungle has been planned on the lines of the butterfly park at the Singapore airport, where the butterflies are real. Gangal said that Rajya Sabha member Parimal Nathwani helped in implementing the concept of the Gir jungle at the airport.

The airport authorities had earlier decided to open a Gir lion museum on June 5 on the World Environment Day. It will be now be inaugurated at an informal function in the next couple of days.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/gir-at-airport-lions-roar-when-provoked/articleshow/64626954.cms

Byculla zoo gears up for Rs 127 crore revamp with 17 enclosures

 The zoo will get new animals like Asiatic lions and tigers

THE ASIAN AGE.

Published : Jun 18, 2018, 6:24 am IST

Updated : Jun 18, 2018, 6:23 am IST

Animals like leopard, jackal, hyena, wolf, sloth bear, otter and nilgai among others will be shifted to the new enclosures.

Mumbai: The Veer Jijamata Udyan, popularly known as Byculla zoo, is gearing up for the second phase of the Rs 120-crore revamp as the construction of new enclosures for animals has already started. The zoo is set to get 17 new enclosures along with new animals like Asiatic lion, tigers and swamp deer among others. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has already approved seven enclosures while the remaining are awaiting approval.
Animals like leopard, jackal, hyena, wolf, sloth bear, otter and nilgai among others will be shifted to the new enclosures. The swamp deer will be brought from the Kanpur zoo, which has already been approved. “The Asiatic lion from Junagad and tigers from Kanpur and Aurangabad are still awaiting approval which we are expecting soon. The seven new enclosures that we have started constructing will have these animals including the nilgai and aviary among others,” said Dr Sanjay Tripathi, director of Byculla zoo. Under the revamp’s first phase, the zoo’s exterior like the entrance and the periphery boundary, among others, were renovated.
The new enclosures will integrate animal-holding areas, exercise areas for animals, water bodies, viewing areas and artistic acrylic glass — as a barrier for visitors to view the animals from a distance.  “The funds for bringing in new animals will be assisted by the Central government and by inter-zoo transfers,” added Dr Tripathi.
Meanwhile, the zoo recently upgraded its animal hospital facilities, as new equipment like ultrasound machines, X-Ray machines and Gascon anaesthesia were introduced.

http://www.asianage.com/metros/mumbai/180618/byculla-zoo-gears-up-for-rs-127-crore-revamp-with-17-enclosures.html

Lion harassment: Gujarat government plans to shift big cats from human habitats

Chintan Acharya Updated: Jun 17, 2018, 04:32 AM IST

Gujarat government is mulling to shift the Asiatic lions of the state from revenue areas to sanctuaries for their safe living. The government is planning to do so after an incident was reported in Gir national forests of teasing a lioness with hen. The government's efforts would be to relocate the lions in Gir Gadhada sanctuary in place of revenue area that includes villages and farms.
The shifting will be on an experimental basis as the carnivores will not be relocated forcefully in jungles, but will be done only after positive results of the trails. The minister for forest and environment department of Gujarat government Ganpatsinh Vasava said, "Shifting lions from revenue areas to sanctuaries is the only solution to stop illegal lions' shows. We have identified Gir Gadhada sanctuary as a suitable location, but we will have to make sure that big cats also find it suitable to live."
"It is difficult to relocate lions from one place to another as they are habitual to live in open fields in place of dense jungles. We will try to relocate a pair of lions in Gir Gadhada sanctuary and that will be under constant observation of our staff. If that pair successfully starts living in sanctuary area and acclimates there, we will try to shift other pairs gradually," Vasava added.
The minister said he and secretary of forest and environment department officials had visited the place and held a meeting with foresters, hotels and resort operators in Gir and police. The government has also asked the hotel managers and report operators not to entertain illegal shows.
"We have asked the hotel owners to put banners that illegal lion show is prohibited. The foresters will have a team of local police also so that they can raid the places where illegal shows are held and legal actions can be initiated against those who hold it," Vasava said.

NEW POLICY

• Government has also decided that the farmers nearby Gir sanctuary will get special assistance to increase the height of protection wall around the wells as lions have been moving in farms.   
• The honorarium of Rs. 1,000 has been increased to Rs.2,000 for the volunteers who help forest staff in villages.
  http://www.dnaindia.com/ahmedabad/report-lion-harassment-gujarat-government-plans-to-shift-big-cats-from-human-habitats-2626223