Forest Department Says It Does Not Want To Lose Sympathy Of Locals

Rajkot: Gujarat’s forest department is facing a strange dilemma. Officials would like to book people who harass the Asiatic Lion in Gir and surrounding areas so that they can teach the pranksters a lesson and set an example. But if they do take legal recourse, they fear losing the sympathy of locals, an important factor in the successful conservation of the wild cat in its last home in the world.

Wildlife officials have submitted a proposal to the State Government to create a new tiger reserve in the existing Grizzled Giant Squirrel sanctuary in Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district.

Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Conservator of Forests, Virudhunagar Circle, says that in the recent population monitoring exercises, tigers were sighted frequently in the sanctuary's middle and upper ridges. In the recently concluded census, participants sighted an adult tigress with two of her cubs in the foothills of Rajapalayam Range of the sanctuary.

AHMEDABAD: While Madhya Pradesh is pitching Palpur Kuno as second home for the Asiatic lions, attempts to settle lions in the forest near this sanctuary had failed miserably in the past.

The Scindias of Gwalior advocated for the forests of Vindhya Pradesh where they had tried to introduce African lions. Sudipta Mitra describes the episode in his book 'Gir Forest and the Saga of the Asiatic Lion'. He writes, "Lord Curzon, while visiting Gwalior to shoot tigers in 1904, encouraged the Maharaja to rear African lions in his territory and as a good gesture, Curzon wrote a reference letter, which helped him a lot in getting the cubs."

Ahmedabad: A lioness staring into the lens with a stately gaze.

AHMEDABAD: The fight to save Gujarat's USP, the Asiatic Lion, has begun in earnest. The Supreme Court's order staying the reintroduction of cheetah in Kuno Palpur has not only dealt a blow to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), but has got the Gujarat forest department officers on their toes to save its USP.

The apex court had recently stayed the Rs 300 crore cheetah reintroduction project and sought to know if saving cheetah or lion was its priority.

AHMEDABAD: A lioness staring into the lens with a stately gaze. This one photograph on the Madhya Pradesh (MP) Tourism department's website to sell the Kuno Palpur Sanctuary has upset government officials in Gujarat - the only home of the Asiatic lion in the world at present.

MP Tourism has started selling the Kuno Palpur as an alternative site for the wild cats even as the two neighbouring states fight a legal battle in the Supreme Court over shifting some lions from the Gir sanctuary.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of the Cheetah Reintroduction Programme by which the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had proposed to import the African large-sized feline to India.

A forest bench comprising justices K.S. Radhakrishan and C.K. Prasad restrained the government from going ahead with the Rs. 300 crore project in the wake of questions being raised that a “totally misconceived” venture was pushed without consulting that National Board for Wildlife (NBW) which is a statutory body for the enforcement of the wild life law.

AHMEDABAD: There are more than 1,700 tigers in the country today. In contrast, there are just 411 Asiatic Lions, all of them in Gujarat. And yet the proposed Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill of the Union government maintains a deathly silence on lion preservation in the country.

The draft of the bill, uploaded on the Union forest and environment ministry's website for comments, does not mention the pride of Gujarat even once while there are elaborate provisions for tiger protection. This has left many wondering if this is plain oversight, or there are other reasons for the ministry hearing the tiger's roar and turning a deaf ear to the lion's.

MAHUVA: Have poachers become active near Gir National Park again? Missing claws of a lion that died a year ago and a cub that has been missing for nearly 50 days indicate that all is not well in the lion's abode.

A 10-month-old lion cub in this range has been missing since March 5 and the forest department has no clue about its disappearance. K S Randhawa, deputy conservator of forests, Bhavnagar, denied that a cub has been missing but senior forest officials confirmed to TOI that the cub has indeed been traceless.