Forest department teams catch 4 Gir lions, 6 lionesses after man eating incidents

Amreli

The Forest Department in Dhari Taluka of this district, which falls under the Eastern range of Gir forests, the sole abode of Asiatic lions, has caught and caged 10 big cats (4 lions and 6 lionesses) following the latest incident of their attack on human yesterday, the third case of ‘man eating’ in last around two months.

Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF), Dhari, Karuppa Samy today said that as a precautionary measure total 10 lions of the same pride (a family based group of lions) have been caught. Four were caught yesterday while six today. Our operation is on in the 18 km area around Ambardi and we may catch up to three to six more beasts of the pride. As per our estimate there are 16 members in the pride.

To a query he said that by medical examination of the caught beasts at our nearby animal rescue center it would be ascertained which one of them killed the boy. We would later see what could be done to mend their behavior.

He also said that at this juncture it can’t be said that the lions have turned in to man eaters. ‘These are accidental attacks on human beings,’ he said.

A lion had killed an 11 year old boy sleeping in a farm in Aambardi village under Dhari taluka in the wee hours yesterday. Earlier on April 10, a lioness had killed a 50 year old woman in Bharad village under Dhari taluka while she was sleeping in an orchard in the vicinity of the forests with his family members. Prior to that on March 19, a 62-year-old man was also mauled to death by a lion in a similar manner when he was camping at Ambariya village of the district. In all the three cases the beasts ate up the flesh of the deceased.

Earlier after the March incident, two lions were nabbed and human bone and a part of cloth of the deceased was detected in the stool of one of them in the animal care center in Shashan.

Amreli district in Gujarat is home to over 170 Asiatic lions as per the census conducted by state government last year.

– DeshGujarat