Headless fight for Gir lions.

Gujarat government tried to defend its stance on retaining its lions but its wildlife board, which was meant to advise it on the issue, stood unconstituted since December 2012; lapse detected at a meeting this week

Hitarth Pandya

Posted On Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 08:57:59 AM

A high-power committee meeting regarding the issue has been scheduled for April 25 Ahmedabad - The Gujarat government harped on retaining its ‘pride’ and preserving its ‘unique heritage’ while arguing against the shifting of Asiatic lions from Gir in Saurashtra to Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh, but it forgot to reconstitute the State Board for Wildlife (SBWL), meant to advise it on the issue. It realised its lapse only after a meeting was called to discuss the lions’ translocation. Quickly, three MLAs were nominated to the board, as required by the SBWL statute, and invited to attend the meeting re-scheduled for April 25. State Forest Minister Ganpat Vasava said, “It is an important meeting and Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the chairman. MLAs, members from NGOs and others are board members. I’m not sure who the three MLAs are. I am at my village and I can find it out later on,” he said. Senior officials in the forest department pressed the panic button on Monday when they realised that three MLAs who were part of the SBWL were not eligible to take part in the crucial meeting to discuss legal issues pertaining to shifting of lions. When decision was taken to hold the meeting on April 25, some senior members realised that as per the constitution of the SBWL, it is necessary to re-appoint the MLAs on the committee as the term of the old ones gets dissolved after the Assembly elections in December 2012. The state never took the necessary steps after the elections even as the case was on in the Supreme Court. The letter sent to SBWL members reads, “This is to bring to your kind notice that a number of members have requisitioned an urgent meeting of the State Board for Wildlife for discussing the directions issued by the Hon Supreme Court of India in judgment dated April 15, 2013, allowing the translocation of Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh. The Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat and the chairman of the State Board for Wildlife has kindly consented to convene a special/urgent meeting as requested by some members to discuss the aforesaid directions and other issues.” The core agenda of the meeting was to chalkout a strategy to take the legal battle ahead against Madhya Pradesh in the Supreme Court. According to sources who were given the circular to attend the meeting, there were three points on the agenda. But the meeting was specifically called to discuss strong representation in review petition which will be filed within a week. Sources said the first point on the agenda pertained to the SC judgment for translocation of the lions. “But just when the letters were about to be dispatched, it was realised that the three MLAs who were part of the board would not be considered as legal members as their term got over with the election. As per rules, we have to inform members about the meeting in advance. To ensure that the meeting is not considered ‘illegal’ the three members were selected immediately and they were sent the letters on Monday itself,” said a SBWL member who is going to attend the meeting. Those who were nominated as members in MLAs category include Moti Vasava from Dediyapada of Narmada district, Shankar Chaudhari from Radhanpur and Kanu Desai from Pardi in Valsad district. http://www.punemirror.in/article/4/20130425201304250858175629b3166b0/Headless-fight-for-Gir-lions.html

Maharashtra officials get animal rescue training in Gir.

TNN | Apr 25, 2013, 12.10 AM IST
AHMEDABAD: A team of 13 officials from Maharashtra, including chief wildlife warden of Maharashtra SWHNaqvi, visited Gir sanctuary for the three-day study on rescue of wild animals, including leopard.

This was the second such training imparted to forest department officials from Maharashtra in Gir. The first batch had officers who were below the rank of CCF and the present batch had officers of level of additional principal chief conservator of forest and chief conservator of forest. They visited Gir for three days from April 21.

Their visit was a follow up of principal secretary, forest and environment, Maharashtra, Praveen Pardeshi, who visited Gir in March along with the officers of forest department. R L Meena, CCF, wildlife circle, Junagadh; Sandeep Kumar, DCF, wildlife division, Sasan-Gir hosted the training session.

"Gir forest management is becoming a model for study in human-wildlife conflict management in India. Skilled manpower, modern infrastructure, quick responses, community cooperation, strong communication system, community awareness among others are the base for the strength of the successful rescue operations and treatments in Gir protected area," Kumar said.

Maharashtra officials were also surprised to see women involved in the rescue of animals. Rasila Wadher, the only woman in the rescue team, demonstrated how to rescue the animal, treat it and even release it after treatment.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/Maharashtra-officials-get-animal-rescue-training-in-Gir/articleshow/19716476.cms

Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary: Ready for lions.

The Asiatic lions of the Gir forest are among the most threatened populations of large carnivores in the world. Photo: AFP

Updated: Tue, Apr 23 2013. 02 15 PM IST
Faiyaz A. Khudsar

Asiatic lions can now be relocated from Gir to the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. Faiyaz A. Khudsar says the move has been many years in the making

“Dilli ke Patrakar” (journalist from Delhi). In spite of staying with the Saharia community in a hut (locally known as pataur) for over a year, extending support and help in the relocation and rehabilitation of villagers from within the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary and of my subsequent, more than 10-year association with Kuno and its neighbourhood communities, this is still how I am locally known.

I first went to Kuno in 1999 with a friend at the invitation of the then divisional forest officer (DFO), J.S. Chauhan, now chief conservator of forests (CCF). In those days, only one bus used to ply between Vijaypur tehsil and Arrod village and I walked seven kilometres on a water-logged and muddy trail to Agraa village to meet him. Today many buses ply between Vijaypur and Agraa.

The Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. The total area of 1,269 square kilometres (sq. km) is now managed as the Kuno Wildlife Division, Sheopur. That includes about 924 sq. km of the surrounding forest habitat of Sheopur Forest Division that has been brought under the Kuno Wildlife Division, besides the sanctuary area of 344.686 sq. km. These changes were made to prepare the area for the introduction of a new population of lions.

The sanctuary derives its name from the Kuno, a tributary of the river Chambal; this perennial river flows through the middle, bisecting the sanctuary. The sanctuary was notified as the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in 1981, but it is popularly known as the Kuno Palpur Sanctuary owing to a seventh century fort in Palpur, situated on the banks of the river Kuno. This used to be the capital of the Palpur jagir under the Scindia dynasty of Gwalior. Palpur is one of the biggest evacuated villages within the sanctuary and there is an old forest rest house on the banks of the river Kuno which has been a very important destination for me: I stayed there almost six years for my research and continue to visit.

Today, free-ranging Asiatic lions (panthera leo persica) are found only in the Gir National Park and Sanctuary and its surroundings. The lion population fell to its lowest number in 1893 when only about 18-20 of the beasts remained. Since then it has shown a remarkable recovery. But if a small population of large carnivores is restricted to a single site, it faces a variety of extinction threats.

So the Asiatic lions of the Gir forest are among the most threatened populations of large carnivores in the world and require immediate measures to ensure their long-term survival. To realize evolutionary potential, survival and to promote genetic vigour, it is desirable that wildlife populations be widely distributed in their former historic, geographical ranges. Thus, the reintroduction concept has been developed to ensure long-term survival of the species by creating a new, free-ranging population in areas from where the species had totally disappeared.

To minimize the extinction threats to Asiatic lions, a survey was conducted to identify potential sites for reintroduction. Several potential sites were surveyed, based on sociological and ecological parameters, and ultimately the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary was selected as the most suitable for a second, free-ranging population of Asiatic lions.

When the site was selected, the first task was to relocate and rehabilitate 24 villages from within the sanctuary. A cabinet sub-committee of the Madhya Pradesh government visited Palpur village in January 1996 to talk to the villagers, and then over 1,500 families, mainly from the Saharia tribe, were rehabilitated, reducing the biotic pressures drastically. I started habitat monitoring and prey base estimation within the sanctuary after the villagers’ relocation and rehabilitation.

The forest of Kuno is classified as a northern, tropical, dry, deciduous forest and is dominated by species such as Kardhai, Khair, Dhawa, Salai and extensive savannah woodland. The sanctuary supports very rich faunal diversity that includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. The important prey species include chital, chinkara, sambar, nilgai, four-horned antelope, wild pig and the common langur. Leopard, dhole and grey wolf are the main carnivores; occasionally, a tiger sighting is also reported from the region. Today, Kuno is ready to receive Gujarat’s lions with a very encouraging trend of a prey base that is almost 50 animals per sq. km.

Someday soon, I will huddle in a bed at Palpur guesthouse, listen to the alarm calls of the chital and know that the lions of Kuno are on the move. This is the goal I worked towards—to realize the dream of rehabilitated villagers from the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary and many staff and researchers.

Faiyaz A. Khudsar has a PhD in biodiversity assessment and prey base estimation in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh is the place that has been chosen for the translocation of lions from Gir in Gujarat. He’s currently a senior scientist at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park in Delhi.
http://www.livemint.com/Specials/RdpFsKw0JqYxTogKMiHI5O/Kuno-Wildlife-Sanctuary-Ready-for-lions.html

The Cat Women of Gir Forest.

Devika Chaturvedi  April 19, 2013 | UPDATED 10:31 IST
The Cat Women of Gir Forest: Modi's pride of women guards is working wonders in the Asiatic lion's last abode

Raseela Vadher knows no fear. Unafraid, she ventures into Gir forest peering intently through the bush looking for signs of trouble. It is not the presence of wild animals that bothers her. She is on the lookout for poachers, illegal gangs felling prized teak trees, or local tribesmen lighting fires that could set the jungle ablaze.

Remember the young woman forest guard Narendra Modi so proudly described to FICCI'S women entrepreneurs in Delhi on April 8? "More than lions, visitors are amazed at the sight of this gutsy girl who fearlessly walks amid a pride of wild lions," he said.

Just 26 years old and already a veteran of the Gujarat government's extraordinary initiative to protect the only natural abode of the Asiatic lion, Vadher is that young woman. From a poor family of Junagadh's Bhanduri village, she signed up as a forest guard in August 2008 and has by now been out on over a thousand successful missions, including about 350 to rescue lions in distress. She loves the forest and this is her dream job.

Like trophies from battle, she happily wears 15 deep scars from a nearfatal lion attack in the summer of 2012. And she is not alone: There are 40 other women van raksha sahayaks, equally driven and zealously watching over the Gir's precious bounty.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi's inspirational move in 2007 to employ women to guard the reserve forest may well have taken a cue from Gir's lionesses, who relentlessly hunt down the plentiful chinkara, nilgai or spotted deer to feed their pride, and turn fiercely protective when their cubs are threatened. Junagadh's women are proving equally enthusiastic in protecting the sanctuary.

An Asiatic lion at Gir

At last count (April 2010 census), there were 411 lions in the 1,412 sq km of reserve forest-52 more than the last count in 2005. There's been more good news since Vadher and her colleagues joined. In November 2010, GPS monitoring of the big cats showed that as many as 50 adult lionesses were pregnant. Though surviving cubs from the births in early 2011 will only be counted in the next census in 2015, wildlife officials are confident "the pride will have grown significantly". The Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) at Gir, Sandeep Kumar, acknowledges the impact of the women guards. "The numbers are rising because they (the women guards) have been successful in creating a new awareness amidst women and children in villages near the forest," he says. Assuming a more gently persuasive approach than their male counterparts who worked this beat before, Vadher and her colleagues, like Jayshree Patat, 26, and Shabnam Rinbaloch, 24, have worked hard to win cooperation not just from local villagers but also from maaldharis, the semi-nomadic tribal herdsmen who live in the sanctuary.

Rinbaloch says her job in the sanctuary has been a hugely empowering experience. Belonging to a tribal Muslim community that did not let its womenfolk seek work outside home, she became the trailblazer for other young women in her village of Jamanvada. In 2009, three others joined what they proudly refer to as the 'women's brigade', each bringing home Rs.5,200 a month to add significantly to their meagre family incomes. Thrilled with the overwhelming success of the initial recruitments, Aradhana Sahu, deputy conservator of forests at Junagadh, and DFO Kumar, are preparing to hire 100 more, to buffer preservation and protection initiatives in the Gir forest. Kumar says 1,200 young women have applied to join training as forest guards this year.

Before Modi had his brainwave of recruiting women guards in 2007, the Gujarat Forests Department was a decidedly male bastion with just two women, both Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers, amid its ranks. "It was fascinating to watch them at work," says wildlife enthusiast Madhavendra Singh, who came to see the lions up close in Gir. But quite like what Modi spoke about at the FICCI gathering, the 27-year-old from Bhopal says he was completely stumped by the way the wild beasts appeared almost tame in the presence of the women guards. Tourists and animal lovers are returning to Gir in a flood; many, like Pune's Revati Krishnan, 40, inspired by Amitabh Bachchan's captivating 2011 campaign for Gujarat Tourism Department. In just two years, tourist footfall has doubled to 302,428 in 2012-13.

But for Gir's 'women's brigade', it is more than about getting visitors a decent photo opportunity with the big cats. "Preserving the forest is serious business," says 25-year-old Manisha Vaghela, who singlehandedly tracked down and apprehended a gang of nine motorcycle-borne poachers trying to hunt chinkara antelopes in 2011.

Armed with double-barrelled shotguns and walkie-talkie radios, the vigilant women fan out into the bush, unmindful of the danger-venomous snakes, crocodiles lurking around watering holes, a hungry leopard or angry lionesses protecting their cubs. On an average day, each of the women's patrols negotiates over 25 km of forest, even during peak summer months when temperatures inside the sanctuary top 45ºC.

Vilas Antana, 24, graduated in Sanskrit from a college in Amreli and knew nothing of wild animals till the day she signed up to work as a guard in Gir. As with many of her colleagues, the job has diluted her marital prospects, with few young men of her community willing to marry a woman who wears khaki and wields a shotgun. She is not overly bothered, though, happy instead with the independence her job provides. "I can now tell you scientific names of all the birds and animals in this forest," she says.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cat-women-gir-forest-narendra-modi-women-guards-asiatic-lion/1/266623.html

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/cat-women-gir-forest-narendra-modi-women-guards-asiatic-lion/1/266623.html

Gir lions: Gujarat to study SC verdict before taking next step.

Press Trust of India | Updated Apr 16, 2013 at 10:06am IST

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Monday said it will study the full judgement of the Supreme Court on relocation of Asiatic lions to Madhya Pradesh before deciding its future course of action on the issue. Currently, Gujarat's Gir sanctuary is the only home to Asiatic lions, an endangered species.
The apex court on Monday directed the Centre to shift the Asiatic lions from the Gir forest to Kuno Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, saying the big cats need a second home to prevent their extinction due to some epidemic or large forest fire. "Before taking any step, we will study the Supreme Court judgement to find out on what basis they have arrived at this decision," Gujarat Finance Minister and Government spokesperson Nitin Patel said.
"The Gujarat Government has maintained that relocation of lions outside Gujarat is not desirable as it is an emotional issue for the people of the state, whose efforts over the years have led to manifold increase in the number of the big cats in the Gir wildlife sanctuary," he said. A century ago, Gir housed around 100 Asiatic lions, whose number, as per the last census conducted in 2010, stood at over 400.

The apex court on Monday directed the Centre to shift the Asiatic lions from the Gir forest to Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

The State has been opposing the relocation of lions, considered as "pride of Gujarat", to Kuno sanctuary. Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani said the verdict has disappointed wildlife enthusiasts and experts in the State.
Gir offers unique environment for the growth of Asiatic lions and the new home may not be suitable for them, said Nathwani, who is also Group President (Corporate Affairs) at Reliance Industries.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gujarat-to-study-sc-verdict-on-gir-lions-before-taking-next-step/385569-3-238.html

Who will be the lion king? Shivraj Singh Chouhan challenges NaMo for pride of place.

Apr 20, 2013, 12.00AM IST
The collective word for lions is 'pride'. And never has this word been more appropriate than in the current context of the controversy created about some lions from the Gir forest of Gujarat being relocated, thanks to a Supreme Court order, to Madhya Pradesh - a move which appears to have stung the 'asmita' of the state presided over by Narendra Modi.
The proposal to shift a few of the Gir lions is based on the observations made by an environmentalist's report, which has subsequently been upheld by the apex court, that as it is deemed unwise to keep all one's eggs in one basket, it is also imprudent to keep all one's lions in a single forest. As of now, the endangered Asiatic lion has only one habitat left, namely Gir. Were an epidemic to strike the area, the leonine species could become extinct, at least in the wild.

Gir forest officials and other local residents have opposed the move, arguing that the badlands of Madhya Pradesh, rife with poachers and dacoits and short on natural prey for carnivores, are far from ideal for the resettlement of Gujarat's lions. However, there could be reasons other than environmental behind such resistance, which could be influenced by the compulsions of political symbolism. In popular lore, the lion is considered to be the king of the jungle. With his openly aired prime ministerial ambitions, Gujarat CM Narendra Modi is being projected by his supporters as being the future king of India's political jungle.
Coincidentally enough, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is seen by some in the BJP to be a serious rival to NaMo as the party's candidate for the PM's gaddi after the next general elections. Does the relocation of the Gir animals contain a political subtext, that ShiCho might outdo NaMo in grabbing the lion's share of intra-party support for the candidacy of the prime ministerial post?
Such suspicions might not be entirely baseless. Even as the king of the beasts in the wilderness must contend with adversaries in the form of wily shikaris, the political lion of Gujarat has found himself a formidable foe in Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who has threatened to have his JD(U) quit the BJP-led NDA combine if NaMo is nominated as its PM-to-be.
Has the Gujarati lion met his match in the up-and-coming contender from Madhya Pradesh, not to mention the Bihari big game hunter who seems to have set his sights squarely on NaMo? It's said that pride goes before a fall, a saying which may hold true for lions of all varieties, zoological as well as political. But do watch this space as more thrilling episodes in this saga of contending lion kings unfold.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-20/edit-page/38674834_1_gir-lion-kings-endangered-asiatic-lion

Watchtowers to deter poachers at Nalsarovar.

Himanshu Kaushik, TNN Apr 24, 2013, 05.12AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Now on, the watchful eyes of foresters will be trained on the winged visitors from overseas that flock to Nalsarovar every year. The state forest department has decided to set up watchtowers near the bank in three villages where poaching has been rampant. Officials have also decided to allocate special funds to set up an information network for Nalsarovar, a Ramsar site.
Officials in Nalsarovar said that at meetings between senior officials on Monday, it was decided to have watchtowers in three sensitive villages - Darji, Ranagadh and Vekariya. These have sizeable populations and notorious for the poaching of birds. In all, about 9000 people in these villages hunt and eat wild animals.
The meeting was held after two people from Ranagadh village were caught with 60 coots that had been trapped and whose legs and wings were broken to keep them from escaping.

These watchtowers will be equipped with closed circuit cameras and in order to prevent damage, one hidden camera will also be installed to catch poachers who will manage to find the visible ones.
Sources in the department said that against the sanctioned strength of 12, there are just six staffers - including the deputy conservator of forests and assistant conservator of forests. With just half the sanctioned strength, officials have to keep watch over 1.5 lakh winged visitors and thousands of tourists to the wetland spread over 120.82 sq km.
"There are only three guards to secure the highly sensitive site, which has communities known for poaching living nearby," said a source. It was decided at the meeting that staff strength would be increased to ensure illegal activities are monitored efficiently.
Secret fund underway
Ahmedabad: It takes a horrific incident of poaching for the state government to loosen its purse strings. Unlike the police department, the forest department did not have a provision for any such secret funding. The poaching of 60 coots was enough for the state to allocate funds for Nalsarovar. An information network will be created with that money.
It was after the poaching of eight lions in April 2007 that the state government allocated funds for Gir Sanctuary. Officials said that a special secret fund will also be set up for Thol. "There is a need for such special funds in all the sanctuaries, but the government rarely makes any provisions. These will help officials keep a check on not just poaching, but also on the movement of suspicious persons.
Not surrendered yet
Forest officials have arrested Kadar Khamasa and Valli Mohammed, residents of Jambu village in Limbdi taluka of Surendranagar, but have been unable to trace those who supplied coots to the duo. The two had applied for bail but their pleas were rejected. This in turn, proved a deterrent from surrender for the others. The remaining four accused had promised to surrender but once bail was denied, they have now gone missing along with their families.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-24/ahmedabad/38789803_1_nalsarovar-poaching-60-coots

'Human assisted dispersal' of lions a good move: Bombay Natural Hisotry Society.

Linah Baliga, TNN Apr 21, 2013, 05.56PM IST

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court of India's recent judgment permitting translocation of some of the endangered Asiatic lions from Gujarat's Gir National Park to Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh is considered to be a good and essential step for the long-term survival of the species.
The Bombay Natural Hisotry Society(BNHS) India, terms this type of re-introduction as 'human assisted dispersal', which means re-introduction of a species to some part of its former range through human intervention. BNHS is of the opinion that many other threatened species can be conserved using this approach wherever it is necessary and appropriate to do so.

BNHS observes that whenever natural dispersal of wild species is not possible any longer due to lack of habitat corridors because of human activities and settlements, it is essential to have 'human assisted dispersal'. Dr Rahmani elaborates on the point saying that although there has been good growth in the numbers of Asiatic lions in Gujarat following conservation measures, there are no forest corridors available at present for the animals to disperse to other areas of their former range in other states. In such cases 'human assisted d'ispersal is required. The same can be used for other threatened species on case to case basis.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-21/flora-fauna/38709260_1_species-bnhs-dispersal