Results of Gujarat’s first lion population estimate since 2020 were released on May 21 by the forest department of the western Indian state of Gujarat. According to the census, India’s wild lion population – exclusively concentrated in Gujarat – has risen by 32 percent over the past five years to 891 lions.
Since the establishment of the Gir National Park and Sanctuary in 1965, India’s efforts to protect lions have long been focused on Gujarat’s Gir forest and its environs. Today, lions have dispersed and established separate satellite populations outside the Gir region and are found in 11 districts in Gujarat.
However, the census recorded more lions for the first time in Gir’s nine satellite populations (497) than the core population (394) across nine satellite populations. These include three new populations in neighbouring districts of Gir, including the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, areas around Jetpur city, and areas around Babra and Jasdan towns — all in Gujarat.
In line with the state and central governments, which have also argued in favor of developing and managing Barda to house more lions, the census report has designated Gujarat’s Barda Wildlife Sanctuary as a “second home” for the big cat. Indeed, that is one of the primary goals of the 29, 277 million Indian rupee ($341m) Project Lion conservation programme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in March.
Experts question whether India is doing enough to reduce human-animal conflict and ensure the animal’s long-term conservation. The rising number of lions, however, masks the challenges facing the species’ future. On June 25, a lion mauled a five-year-old boy to death in Gujarat’s Amreli district, after dragging the child away from a farm.
We break down the key findings from the census and discuss the crucial battles that lie ahead for India’s big cats.
The lions were counted in what way?
As per the Gujarat Forest Department, the lion population estimation was conducted over two 24-hour recording schedules from May 11-13. The state’s lion landscape was divided into 735 sampling regions, with each enumerated by an enumerator and two assistant enumerators. Lions were located and photographed with digital cameras, and cross-verified with adjacent sampling regions to avoid duplication, according to the report.
However, Yadvendradev Jhala, a specialist on big cat conservation and former employee of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), cautioned that “double counting” cannot be excluded, and that some lions may have been missed “due to the time constraint” imposed by the two-day exercise.
Ravi Chellam, a veteran wildlife biologist involved with lion conservation since 1985, questioned the logic of a methodology that required field staff to stay alert for 24 hours on two consecutive days. One can picture the field staff’s reduced level of concentration and fatigue, he said. “I find it difficult to believe that reliable and accurate data can be collected with such an approach”.
There are more reliable and robust scientific methods, such as combining lion photographs with whisker patterns, similar to those found in human fingerprints, to identify individual lions, according to both experts.
Still, Jhala said that the actual count is likely not very different from the census number.
What’s behind the sharp rise in lion numbers?
According to experts, the Gujarat state government’s policies and the lions’ adaptability have contributed to the population’s success.
According to Jhala, lions will continue to expand their population as long as there is food and cover available, and the animals aren’t attacked. He claimed that there is food for both feral cattle and livestock as well as dead carcasses for scavenging.
The Gujarat government’s “compensation for livestock loss is almost near market value and is revised regularly to reflect current market rates”, Jhala said. This has allowed humans and lions to coexist together ever more.
Meanwhile, the new census shows that the coastal Gujarat district of Bhavnagar and adjacent areas along the state’s coast – far from the dry deciduous habitats of Gir – are now home to 212 lions. According to Jhala, the invasive Prosopis juliflora species (a kind of mesquite) along the coast provide “refuge for lions throughout the day and they can come out at night to feed in agropastoral landscapes.”
Gujarat can host how many more lions?
Since 2010, Gujarat’s lion population has more than doubled, and their territorial range has increased by 75 percent, from 20, 000 to 35, 000 square kilometres (7, 700 to 13, 500 square miles). Only 250sq km of the area are exclusive to lions, and only 1800sq km of that area is protected.
According to the census, 45 percent of lions recorded were found in non-forested areas such as wastelands, agricultural lands and near human habitats.
They run the risk of getting electrocuted, falling into open wells, being hit by heavy vehicles and trains, and also contracting infections, according to Chellam. He pointed out that lions have been regularly documented in unusual locations such as the terraces of homes, in the basement parking lots of hotels, and on busy highways.
According to Chellam, “the region as a whole has far exceeded its carrying capacity.” He says it’s not sensible to have an “increasing lion population in what are essentially human habitations”.
Jhala concured. “The question is: How much are people willing to tolerate a large carnivore in their neighbourhood”?
What effect will Gujarat’s population experience as soaring lions?
According to a human-lion conflict study in the Conservation Biology journal published in November, there has been a 10 percent annual increase in the number of villages in Gujarat reporting livestock attacks and a 15 percent increase in livestock killed per year.
Data from 2012 to 2017 are used in the paper. Jhala, who a co-author of the study, anticipates growing human-lion conflict.
He claimed that living with a large carnivore is difficult. “You learn that you can’t let your kids roam around in the fields at night, that you need to clear the vegetation near your huts, that going out for defecation in the field during twilight hours is to be prevented, that you need walled corrals for your livestock”.
Chellam concurred. “While the increase in the number of lions is viewed by many, and especially the government, as a positive sign, the reality is that more and more lions are risking themselves as well as the lives of tens of thousands of people”, he said. There have been numerous instances of lions being harassed, and there is an increasing trend of lion attacks on people.
Is Barda a ‘ second home ‘ for the lion?
According to the census report, the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary’s range has an established lion population (17) for the first time since 1879. While the Gujarat government pitches Barda as a “second home” for lions, Chellam and Jhala say its small size and proximity to Gir mean that it fails the test of what qualifies as a geographically distinct habitat that can sustain a “second” lion population.
Because they are close to Gir, the satellite population in Barda qualifies as a range expansion for lions, but it cannot be regarded as a separate population.
“The whole point in translocating lions to establish a ‘ second ‘ free-ranging population is to ensure geographical isolation, to mitigate the risks of having the entire population of an endangered species at a single site”, Chellam explained.
Compared to Gir’s 1,400 square kilometers of core protected area, Barda is 100 kilometers away and only 200 square kilometers in size. “It]Barda] is a small area with a very low-density prey population. He continued, “It is ineligible to have a viable population of lions.”
“The risks are numerous and include cyclones, floods, forest fires, disease outbreaks, political decisions, droughts, poaching, violence and wars”.
Why aren’t lions being moved outside Gujarat?
Conservationists have been piqued by this query, which has even frustrated the Indian Supreme Court.
In April 2013, the country’s top court ordered the Gujarat state government to translocate a few Asiatic lions to Kuno National Park in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh within six months to create a geographically separate, free-ranging lion population. The ideal setting for lions was Kuno, which has large tracts of forests and grasslands as its ideal prey.
Though the Gujarat government assured the top court that it would comply with the order, 12 years later, the order is still to be implemented, and neither the federal nor the state government has faced any consequences. It is “very disappointing to see the impunity that the Gujarati government and the Indian government have been operating in the relocation of lions to Kuno,” Chellam said.
According to Jhala, it is also a failure on the part of wildlife biologists and conservationists. Without the government, conservation is impossible. I think biologists have failed in convincing the government that Kuno is an ideal place to have a second home for lions”, Jhala said.
Cheetahs haven’t moved to Kuno, yet?
On September 17, 2022, eight Southeast African Cheetahs were flown in from Namibia to Kuno National Park as part of India’s efforts to reintroduce the cheetah to the country. In India, in 1952, the cheetahs had previously become extinct.
However, the introduction of cheetahs to Kuno set off a debate over whether that would impede plans to also move lions to the Madhya Pradesh reserve.
Lions and cheetahs could easily coexist in Kuno, according to Jhala, who spearheaded the 2022 plan to reintroduce the animals to India.
“In no way do cheetahs prevent lions from going there. They would perform better than cheetahs because lions love them because of the scenery and prey base in Kuno, he claimed.
Bringing in lions could also be helpful for cheetahs, Jhala added. With 22 leopards per 100 km2, Kono has one of the highest leopard densities in the world. Leopards pose more of a predatory threat to cheetahs, lions can help reduce leopard density as they prey on leopards, especially the young ones.
Chellam, however, questioned the cheetah reintroduction plan’s intentions because it was “more likely to continue stall and delay the transfer of lions to Kuno” as opposed to protect cheetahs.
Like Jhala, Chellam said that lions would do well in Kuno. “Lions are very resilient and hardy animals. If the translocation is planned and carried out carefully, there is no reason for the lions not to thrive in Kuno”.
What will the big cat do next?
“It]lions in Gujarat] is a wonderful conservation story”, Jhala said. However, there are many things that can be done as a species for the lion. Forget about Kuno, we should try and establish lion populations across its historical range, within and outside of India”. The last of Asia’s lions outside of India were shot and killed in Iran in the 1940s as part of the old range of lions that stretched from Persia to eastern India.
The current concentration of lions in just Gujarat, Chellam said, was a “ticking time bomb”.
Source: Aljazeera
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