AHMEDABAD: A three-member team with experts from the Wildlife Institute of India, the ministry of environment, forests and climate change and the Indian Veterinary Institute will be visiting Gujarat to assess the recent deaths of lions in eastern part of Gir sanctuary.
Sources in the ministry said it had taken notice of the frequent reports of lion deathsin the area and had directed Gopinath, the joint director, wildlife, an expert from the WII and another from the IVI to visit Gir and check the ground situation.
In last three months, 30-odd lions died in the Gir east region. In last two months, five lions died in Jasadhar range and 18 in the Khamba-Tulshishyam range. Officials, said nothing was unusual and said the cub deaths were due to fighting, and adult deaths were from babesia, a tick-borne disease.The unusually large number of deaths seemed to follow a pattern similar to the CDV outbreak in 2018, which killed 27 lions in a similar time frame. Wildlife experts say that all the present symptoms, coughing, fever, salivation followed by death in four to five days, point to the re-emergence of CDV. While many lions may be infected with babesia, the tick-borne pathogen alone cannot claim so many lives unless they are also infected with CDV, experts said.
Officials in Delhi said that the team has been asked to check all postmortem and investigation reports.
The forest department had caged some 30 lions which were later released in the wild. Sources said WII expert Y V Jhala was asked to accompany the team but backed out and another researcher has been deputed to be the part of the team.
Rajiv Gupta, additional chief secretary, environment and forests, said this was a routine visit and was not related to any deaths in the area. We have taken all precautions. The deaths reported are only due to babesia. There is no CDV outbreak in the state,” he said.
“The last time lions were captured like this was in 2018 during the CDV outbreak. Those animals have not been returned to the wild,” said a wildlife expert. Also expert pointed out that the 2008-batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Anshuman Sharma was transferred as DCF, Gir (East) division. He had been specially deputed in 2018 to manage the CDV outbreak.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/central-team-in-gir-to-examine-lion-deaths/articleshow/76099036.cms
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