The movie The Lion King echoes how we look at lions in real life – loving them to their deaths.
A
fictional movie set in Africa has an unlikely connection to India. That
of lions. The Lion King follows the story of Simba, an African lion,
and his hero’s journey. He battles a bitter leonine rival, mangy hyenas
and an upturned ecological balance to take his ‘rightful’ place as King
of the Jungle. And because The Lion King is about saving and cherishing
lions, this movie should have special relevance to India: the world’s
last remaining Asiatic lion population is here.
In
the annals of movie history, animated movies have a vaunted place.
Leaping images bring things to life, uplifting us more than just moving
us. They target children, but are watched by adults; they show slivers
of dread and fear, but also order. They show us worlds we ache to be a
part of, mostly because the ending is one of triumph and learning. The
Lion King has been remade by Disney almost two decades later—and both
movies are hits—demonstrating the universal themes of saving wildlife
and nature.
But a lot has changed for Asiatic lions since the last movie, and not in a good way.
A lioness with her cubs at the Gir National Park in Gujarat. (Photograph: Gir National Park)
A
2013 Supreme Court order directed the government to relocate some wild
lions to Madhya Pradesh, in order to stave off fears of an epidemic
amongst the 500 odd Gir population. Wildlife populations in single
locations are threatened by natural calamity and disease outbreak – in
1994, a Canine Distemper Virus outbreak had decimated at least thirty
percent lions in Serengeti. The virus had jumped from domestic dogs to
lions.
Last
year, the predicted calamity happened – an outbreak of CDV killed
several lions in the Gir landscape. Gir is also overrun with dogs and
cattle that can be disease carriers. Official numbers said there were 34
lions deaths, but unofficial sources said the number was higher. The
court order was not followed, and disease has come knocking. What could
this mean?
Ironically, The Lion King’s particular gaze on lions holds a mirror to how we look at lions in real life.
A lion at the Gir National Park in Gujarat. (Photograph: Gir National Park)
The
movie has a stylised, anthropomorphised view of lions. The lion is the
king of the jungle, and has solid family values, ideas which contribute
to its magnificence. Gujarat’s refusal to give up lions for the sake of
species’ persistence reflects this human-centric view. On affidavit, the
state said it could not part with its lions because they were
‘Gujarat’s pride’ and like ‘family members’ for the state. This familial
love would be fine if the fitness of the animals was not at stake.
The
CDV outbreak showed the danger of not only keeping all eggs in one
basket, but also in loving something the way we want to, as opposed to
how the subject needs to be cherished. Cartoons are great ways to
communicate about potentially dangerous animals, as they minimise danger
and make something look endearingly familiar.
One should not have to point out that cartoons don’t dictate real life, but the state seems to be looking at lions as familiar, domestic creatures more than as wild animals with real habitat needs.
A lioness at the Gir National Park. (Photograph: With permission from Sohail Madan)
In
a first for big cat conservation, the lions were caught and vaccinated
en masse after the outbreak. The state also announced a Rs 350 crore
package for lions, which included drones for surveillance, CCTV cameras
and medical ambulances.
The
enterprise made Gir seem more of a safari rather than a wildlife
sanctuary with natural processes. It also broke a tenet of wildlife
conservation – of having minimal human intervention, so naturally
resilient systems can form. Wildlife is not rounded up and vaccinated
like pets in the wild because that interferes with natural selection of
resilient animals that develop immunity. And though disease leads to
natural population control, we must avoid population bottlenecks that
form after habitats are cut off. Genetic studies prove that big cats
like tigers are fitter and have more potential for genetic diversity if
they disperse, and larger habitat also safeguards from physical risks of
disaster.
With
one single population on earth, we can hardly afford an infantilisation
of the issue. We can’t love lions to their deaths.
A lioness at the Gir National Park. (Photograph: With permission from Sohail Madan)
They
are wild animals, and they necessarily need new habitat, rather than
CCTV cameras. The Lion King is set in one location, the Pride lands, and
even there, disease is not far away.
The
lions of real life have their pride lands, but this is not enough:
reports of them walking outside Gir, getting hit by trains or falling in
wells abound (23 lions have died in this manner since 2017, while 222
lions have died in Gir between 2017-19).
There
is also rising conflict outside Gir, and videos of people baiting and
teasing lions for tourists have been doing the rounds for years.
And
if art is intended to imitate life, the opposite is also true. While
the movie literally lionises big cats, it also demonises hyenas. The
entire species is shown as itchy, yucky and mean-spirited, which in
human terms would be similar to a racist approach towards a community.
This depiction perpetuates commonly held stereotypes of
scavengers—hyenas are often persecuted in India.
Primitive, cartoonish understanding of animals should not be how we look at things in real life.
A lion at the Gir National Park in Gujarat. (Photograph: Gir National Park)
Finally,
we can hardly hold movie fictions responsible for colouring our view;
the fault lies with planning. The lion seems ready to move to new
places, dispersing as far as the sea coast in Gujarat. Despite doing
well on lion conservation otherwise, the authorities have caricatured
the issue, denying lions their wildness.
We are in danger of believing in a happy ending because we are so fond of something. Yet, happy endings belong to animation movies, not real life. The lion doesn’t need parochial love, it needs space. If anything, we should enjoy cartoons in our free time so we can work for the subject in real time.
We are in danger of believing in a happy ending because we are so fond of something. Yet, happy endings belong to animation movies, not real life. The lion doesn’t need parochial love, it needs space. If anything, we should enjoy cartoons in our free time so we can work for the subject in real time.
On the species’ terms, not ours.
Neha Sinha works with the Bombay Natural History Society.
Views
expressed are personal. The views expressed here are those of the
author and do not necessarily represent the views of BloombergQuint or
its editorial team.
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