Fresh lion count could dispel concerns about recent deaths

Ahmedabad: The state forest department is planning to carry out its monthly survey of the Asiatic lion population on June 5 and June 6, which will act as a base for planning of lion-related activities in the state. This comes after the state’s plan to hold a full-fledged five-year official census that was due this year, was deferred due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

A large number of lion deaths in the past two months have sparked concerns among wildlife activists, many of whom say that a deadly virus like the canine distemper virus (CDV) could be the reason behind these deaths. The new population estimates are expected to show a considerable rise in lion numbers in Gujarat, and will likely dispel concerns about these deaths.

“These deaths seem to be natural. If the lion numbers are far higher than the 2015 numbers that are taken as reference, the recent deaths should not be a major concern. We are waiting for the report of the team which comprised of Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Delhi and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) officials,” said a senior official with the ministry of environment, forests and climate change. He said the report is expected in the next 10 days.

The census, which otherwise sees the participation of at 500 volunteers and wildlife enthusiasts, will be done by the state forest officials only this time. While forest officials said that this is being done due to Covid-19, wildlife activists say it raises questions about transparency.

MLAs and sarpanches of various villages are likely to be involved in the two-day exercise, sources said.

The numbers are estimated to 25% higher than the last count of 523 animals in 2015, sources said.

The department has also begun a drive for Covid-19 testing of the foresters who are to participate in the survey.

The Asiatic lion population is distributed in nine districts of Saurashtra: Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Porbandar, Rajkot, Porbandar and Surendranagar, covering 30,000sq km, called the Asiatic lion landscape.

The population estimation conducted every five years, was earlier to take place between June 3 and June 6, said Rajiv Gupta, additional chief secretary, forest and environment.

“This exercise sees a lot of participation from wildlife enthusiasts, NGOs and volunteers in addition to the forest department personnel. However, owing to the Covid-19 situation and advisories of the central and state governments, the Asiatic Lion Population Estimation 2020 shall not be conducted as planned from June 3 and 6. The involvement of locals, NGOs and volunteers unfortunately cannot be allowed in these testing times. The full moon count will now be conducted by about 300 forest officials on June 5 and 6. The count will give us an estimation for the future planning as the official census cannot be held now,” said Gupta.

A team from the Centre which was recently in the state following reports of lion deaths, left on Monday, said sources. At least 30 lions have died in the last two months or so while an equal number have been captured. Of the captured lions, five were released in the wild and a few of them that were sent to Sakkarbaug Zoo, are believed to have died, sources said. As many as 15 lions are still in captivity, sources added.

The large number of deaths seemed to follow a pattern similar to the canine distemper virus (CDV) outbreak of 2018, which killed 27 lions in a similar span of time, according to a wildlife expert. The state forest department has denied that the deaths were due to CDV and said that a few could be due to babesia, a tick-borne pathogen. The department had captured about 30 lions during the CDV outbreak of 2018. They are yet to be released.

Wildlife experts say that symptoms like coughing, fever, salivation followed by death in four to five days along with presence of pus in lungs, would point out to the re-emergence of CDV. Babesia alone cannot cause so many deaths, they say. In the last few days, five lion deaths took place in the Gir forest region, with the department recovering the bones in only one case. This has made some experts speculate that the death toll of the past two months may be much higher than 30, sources said.