Sasan Gir (Gujarat):A lion on Thursday attacked ंand mauled one temporary forest department employee and injured two others in Devaliya interpretation zone cum safari area situated at a distance of 13 km from here in Gir Somnath district of Gujarat.

The lion killed one Rajnish Keshwala (34), a daily wager driver of forest department whose mutilated body was later found at a distance of 2 km from the cage of the big cat from which it was reportedly being taken out when it suddenly became aggressive. It also injured another such employee Dinesh Sankal when he tried to rescue Rajnish. A regular employee (forester) Meramal Bharda was also injured later by the beast while he was trying to recover the dead body of his colleague.

CCF Junagadh D T Vasavada said that it was first of its kind incident in the area where a total of 10 lions have been kept. “These lions are put inside a cage every evening and taken out in the morning before the arrival of tourists. Not all 10 lions are kept out together at any given time,’ he added.

“The two injured have been admitted to hospital. We will conduct a detailed inquiry in to the incident,” he said.

There were two lions in the cage which was being opened when the incident happened. The two would be take out of the interpretation zone to put in observation. It was not yet clear whether the only one lion attacked or killed the man or both of them jointly mauled him.

Notably, the Devaliya interpretation zone, situated in the Gir forests, the only abode of Asiatic lions, spread across 3 districts of Gujarat, has been turned in to a lion Safari recently and it remains open even during Monsoon when the 110 sq km tourist zone of Gir National Park cum Sanctuary remains closed for 4 months every year. Gypsy vehicles have also been introduced for seeing lions in Devaliya interpretation zone where earlier only mini buses were used for the same.

As per the last lion census of 2015, Gir was home to 523 lions including male, female and cubs. Meanwhile the lion safari has been closed for the day in the wake of the incident.

DeshGujarat