As hundreds
of stranded villages in Gujarat’s Amreli district struggle to cope with
this week’s destructive floods, wildlife enthusiasts have been worried
about the fate of endangered lions in the Gir forests of the region.
For
the past three days, torrential rains triggered floods across five
districts in Saurashtra, submerging villages and farms and displacing
thousands. On Friday, Gujarat’s health ministry reported at least
70 deaths across the state, although disaster management officials claim that the figure is exaggerated.
“So
far 45 people have died in the floods, 13,000 have been evacuated and
eight people are still missing in Amreli and Rajkot districts,” said
Bipin Bhatt, the director of relief and rescue operations in Gujarat.
“Our electricity board is working day and night to restore power to
areas that are cut off, but otherwise the rains have stopped now and the
flood situation is very much under control.”
Amreli, by all
accounts, has been the worst affected, where 33 people have died and 600
inundated villages are now dependent on the National Disaster Relief
Force and the Indian Air Force for food and other humanitarian aid. The
forested areas of southern Amreli are also home to many Asiatic lions of
the Gir wildlife sanctuary, and in the midst of all the chaos, forest
authorities have been concerned about their safety.
Worrying signs?On June 25, residents of Amreli’s Bavadi village
discovered
the body of a lioness floating in the murky flood waters of a farm. As
many as 50 lions had been living near the villages around Bavadi, on the
banks of the river Shetrunji that had overflowed during the heavy
rains.
Forest officials have sent out teams to reach out to those
villages, but have not officially attributed the lioness’s death to the
floods. “We don’t know for sure how the lioness died – she could have
been diseased,” said an official from the Gujarat government’s
department of forests. “From our side we are trying to pump out the
water from the areas where lions live. And we are trying to provide them
with food by making sure that the animals they prey on – like cheetal –
do not fall ill.”
Concern about the lions’ flooded habitats
increased after a video of a lion walking along a national highway in
Gujarat hit the news channels on June 24. The cell phone video was shot
by a passing commuter and has been perceived as a sign of wildcats
attempting to escape flooded forest areas.
Nothing to worry aboutSome
wildlife conservationists, however, believe that people are getting too
carried away with their concern for the survival of Gir’s lions. The
Asiatic lion is undoubtedly and endangered species – there are only 523
of them left, almost all of them in Gir – but they are very unlikely to
drown in the floods.
“The Gir national park has got a lot of
elevations and hills that lions retreat to when it floods, so this is
not new,” said K Ramesh, a scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India.
“There is also nothing new about spotting a lion along a highway,
especially since their population has been increasing.”
Flooding
is a risk to all animals, but wildlife is far more likely to perish in
flood plains like the ones at the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary in Assam.
“In
Kaziranga, many animals do die during floods, and many move to another,
hillier sanctuary nearby,” said Anish Andheria, president of the
non-profit Wildlife Conservation Trust. “Some amount of mortality for
various reasons is natural, but lions have survived through many floods
and can look after themselves.”
While the Saurashtra floods need
not be a major cause of worry for India’s lions, there are some who
believe the risk posed to the animals is a good reminder of the fact
that the Gir forests are the only natural home for endangered lions in
the country.
“The floods are a reminder that we need to
translocate some lions to other sanctuaries so that they can survive
outside Gir as well,” said Ravi Chellam, a senior wildlife
conservationist. “Right now, we are putting all our eggs in the same
basket.”
