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| Lion census method outdated | | | KANCHAN BASU
An outdated methodology and the true mortality from a virus affecting India’s lions dent the credibility of the Gujarat government’s claims on its lion population. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted results of the 2020 Asiatic Lion Census that put the number of lions at 674, a 28% rise from 2015.
The Gujarat forest department has suggested that the Asiatic Lion population in Gir National Park has increased by 29% in the past five years – from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020. The department has also said the distribution area of lions in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, where Gir is situated, has increased by 36% from 22,000 sq. km in 2015 to 30,000 sq. km.
Shyamlal Tikadar, Gujarat’s chief wildlife warden and principal chief conservator of forests, said the Asiatic lion, which once faced the threat of extinction, has shown extraordinary recovery, thanks to the timely intervention by the erstwhile Nawab of Junagadh and protection programmes of the Gujarat government.
“Today, Asiatic lions are present in protected areas and agro-pastoral landscape of Saurashtra covering districts in a sprawling expanse of over 30,000 sq. km, which is termed as the Asiatic Lion landscape”, Shyamal Tikadar said. He said the 15th Asiatic Lion Population Estimation based on scat analysis and camera trap modeling was scheduled to take place on June 5-6, but that did not happen due to the corona virus disease situation.
“….the forest department conducted an exercise in which 1,400 forest guards of 13 divisions were asked to spot lions and report their presence. Based on their reports, we estimated the population. The exercise was called Poonam Avlokan (because it was conducted on full moon night)”, he said.
In 2015, Gir recorded 523 lions, an increase of 27% since 2010. “That estimation was a scientific one and was based on established methodology for estimating cat population,” said Anish Andheria, the president of Mumbai based Wildlife Conservation Trust. He did not comment on the methodology adopted this time, saying he did not study it.
“Poonam Avlokan is a routine monitoring exercise done by forest department. During a pandemic, the effort to monitor lion numbers is commendable. This tells us their number has increased. We need to now understand on how other conservation challenges of Asiatic Lions will be addressed,” said Meena Venkataraman, a scientist specializing in Asiatic Lions.
A wildlife biologist who closely works with the Union Environment Ministry on wildlife surveys said that the Canine Distemper Virus (C.D.V.) that killed at least 36 lions in Gir, Gujarat in 2018 had not ebbed. This was in spite of the government inoculating lions with an imported vaccine. “There have been more deaths from the virus since January but no data about these have been shared,” the biologist said.
Yadvendradev Jhala, senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India (W.I.I.), an autonomous organization of the Union Environment Ministry, said the Gujarat government uses a 100-year-old method to count lions that would not “stand the scrutiny of contemporary science”. This approach, called the Direct Beat Verification or Block Count method, involves officials from the State wildlife department laying stake at watering holes across the animals’ territorial range.
An official from the Union Environment Ministry’s wildlife division said, “Camera traps are not yet suitable for lions as they don’t have clearly discernible permanent physical features, unlike in tigers, which have unique stripes. There are lots of ideas but going ahead, we will consider newer methods that are practical. The C.D.V. was an issue in 2018 but this year, we haven’t yet got any report of such deaths,” the official said.
H. S. Singh, a member of India’s National Board for Wildlife and an expert on Gir lions estimates 26 lions to have succumbed to C.D.V. this year. “The virus is endemic in livestock and periodically infects lions so only large-scale vaccination of livestock can help. However, I don’t think it significantly decreases the population. That 60% of the lions are outside the protected area and increasing is a more serious issue.”
At a time when India and the world are battling both a pandemic and an economic slowdown, there is a thirst for news that uplifts the spirit. What could be better timed than the results of the latest headcount of Asia’s last and only population of lions? The news is doubly positive: not only are there more lions in the Saurashtra peninsula, Gujarat, the estimates began but their range has also expanded manifold.
The lion roar may be muffled across many African countries where it is under major pressures outside parks, reserves and community grazing lands. The news from India, from Gujarat in particular, gives room for hope. But it is tinged with serious concern. Lion numbers and range are up but to have ‘all eggs in one basket’, as the proverb goes, makes little sense.
Since the early 1990s, and after much research, Kuno in Madhya Pradesh was selected and a park established. A previous such attempt at finding a second home had failed. Lions were taken to Chandraprabha Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh, in 1956. They bred and dispersed. Many were poisoned and some shot. Preparation was poor and protection non-existent.
Kuno is a case in contrast. Nestled in a larger forest tract of over 3,000 sq. km, twice the size of the Gir Sanctuary, is an area readied for lions to moved. Surveys by the Wildlife Institute of India (W.I.I.) show a high density of prey. Chital and wild boar and sambar are all potential meal for a hungry big cat. The density of the sambar and nilgai are higher than in the lion’s native Gir Forest.
In 2013, the Supreme Court cleared the way for moving a few lions. This point needs emphasis as the hurdles to the idea of relocation are cultural and political rather than scientific.
To know why we need to go back a step in time.
In 1972, the lion as symbol both lost and gained. It ceased to be the ‘National Animal of India’. The tiger was made the ‘National Animal’ as it was seen to be an emblem of ‘unity in diversity’. Unlike the 19th century when lions had ranged across north and central India, they are found only in one state: Gujarat. But the latter acted around the same time and declared it a state animal.
Lions have been symbols of power and authority for centuries. No wonder independent India gave Ashoka’s lion capital from 2,300 years ago such a prominent place. But in the early 1970s, it became an icon of regional pride and a rallying point for fresh conservation efforts. The federal and state governments joined forces to launch the Gir Lion Sanctuary project a year before the more famous ‘Project Tiger’.
Gir’s lions had declined in numbers and were often in sharp conflict with livestock owners. A part of the forest became a national park with no timber operations or gazing. Some Maldhari settlements were also moved out. By the end of the 1980s, the lions in the sanctuary shifted their diet from domestic to wild prey.
Since them, successive estimates have shown their numbers as well as their ranges are growing. There are debates about the methods of estimation. Still, there is little doubt of there being far more lions than in the past. The last quarter-century has seen a sharp fall in the range and in the numbers of Africa’s lions.
But the work done in and around Gir is a study in contrast. Gujarat can justifiably take much credit for the turnaround. The state government gave up timber revenues from the national park and funded the resettlement of the pastoralists. Even further, when lions were poached in 2007 for their claws, a direct recruitment of watchers from the nearby villages ensured there was no repetition. The payment of compensation for cattle kills has also helped alleviate loss of entitlement of the stock owners.
But regional nationalism has made the animals a symbol of Gujarati asmita.
In 1997, the then Chief Minister, Shankarsingh Vaghela, made moving the lions into a prestige issue. Speaking in Rajkot, he said “not a lion cub” would ever leave the state. The lion was also a symbol of his short-lived regional party. But this attitude has many more adherents than he did.
The result is that no serious dialogue is possible with the state government on the matter. The lions are now Gujarat’s first and last. This is not logical. For Gujarat and Gir will always be the first home of Asia’s lions. This can reconcile regional and all-India concerns rather than pit them against one another. The majestic creature has resonance across languages and cultures across the land. It is only recently that it has become largely, if not solely, a regional icon.
A second home will be an insurance against calamity. Half a century ago, timely steps helped secure the lions in Gir. It is time to go one step further. Tomorrow may be too late. |
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