The Gujarat government has finally moved forward with a long-delayed plan to create a second home for Asiatic lions at Barda Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat, about 100 kilometers from their current home in Gir National Park. very important place. crowded house. In the country, this measure will also protect the population from the disease.
Asiatic lions in Gir National Park, about 100 km from Barda Game Reserve. (Shutterstock)
The central government has approved the project in principle, said a senior government official familiar with the development. Of course, Barda is also in Gujarat – which makes it easier to decide in a state that is proud of its lions and doesn’t want to share it with other states.
A report on ‘Lion@2047: Amrutkal’s Vision’ prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for the Government of Gujarat has identified Barda as a potential site to house 40 adult and juvenile lions Barda-Alech Hills and Coast A larger view of the forest.
“Will proceed to prepare the reserve for future natural allotment. The increase in herbivore numbers through ranching activities will be documented. Much of Barda is covered in thick Senegalese acacia – a thicket of Gollard, no Allows herbivores to easily enter Can be removed and replaced with sparse vegetation,” the report states, HT checked a copy of the report.
State Forestry Administration officials said Barda is a second natural home for lions that migrated from Gir, where big cats are abundant. Established in 1979 as a wildlife sanctuary, Barda has since been designed as an alternative second home for the lions of Gujarat.
On January 18, 2023, a radio-collared male lion about three and a half years old entered the Barda sanctuary, officials added, suggesting that Barda could easily be a second home for lions.
“The lion, which has a radio collar to track its movements and activities, was found at Mota Jungle Beat in the Ranavav Range of the Porbandar Wildlife Department. Almost two months later the lion is still in Barda, suggesting he found refuge there,” one of the officials said.
The last time Asiatic lions were seen in Barda was in 1879, about 144 years ago.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Lions program in his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2020, and shared the government’s intent and commitment to the long-term conservation of Asiatic lions in the country.
According to officials, the government of Gujarat will implement the Lions program with financial assistance from the center. “Previously, the total budget for Project Lion was around Rs 2,000 crore, but it has been revised to Rs 1,000 crore. The center will launch Project Lion soon,” another official said.
“Barda can become another home for lions. For this, the government and the forest department will have to work on improving the habitat and improving the game base in the area, perhaps by introducing The Maldhari communities will also need to be resettled, and a proper compensation program must be put in place for them,” said a member of the National Wildlife Council and Asiatic lion expert, who asked to not be named.
Project document
Lions also propose the voluntary relocation of Maldharis, or pastoral communities, to create approximately “1,000 square kilometers” of “inviolable space” in lion habitat in Gir and Barda.
“It is therefore imperative to have an appropriate incentive recovery plan for all forest dwellers in wildlife sanctuaries and to provide them with the opportunity to resettle outside with additional allowances which may be provided by the government of Gujarat,” he said.
Lions researcher Jalpan Rupapara hailed the decision to restore Maldharis.
“Gir reserve has many Nesses (human settlements) which place a huge burden on the ecosystem. There are at least 22,000 cattle in the reserve, mainly Madharis buffaloes. In Gir, these cattle are wild herbivores competing for food A major competitor for With Maldharis recovering outside the reserve, Barda has the potential to become a second home for lions,” Rupapara said.
The Gujarat Forest Department estimates that the state’s lion population will now exceed 700, with half of them outside Gir. Lions are found in nine districts of Saurashtra including Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Botad, Porbandar, Jamnagar and Surendranagar. They are spread over a 30,000 square kilometer area known as the Asiatic lion landscape.
There has long been a call to find a wild second home for lion Asiatic Gil. About two decades ago, the center decided to relocate some of the lions to establish a separate second Asiatic lion population in Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh.
In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that Gujarat should move some of its lions to neighboring Madhya Pradesh to avoid the possibility of disease or other disasters wiping out entire lion populations. The Gujarat government has not moved the lions to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh, citing concerns over their coexistence with tigers and the different climatic conditions in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. In August 2022, eight cheetahs from Namibia were introduced to Kuno, and in February this year the park received another 12 cheetahs from South Africa.
Uday Vora, the former Forest (Wildlife) Conservation Officer of Gujarat, said the Asiatic lion population in Gir Sanctuary has more or less stabilized even though more lions were seen at the exterior of the sanctuary.
“Although it is a little late, it is necessary to develop Barda as the new homeland of the lions.
The number of lions increases every day, driving many of them away from Gil. Lion-focused habitat management, including reduction of tree cover at Gil, will increase carrying capacity in the reserve. “
Gujarat’s Barda pitched as new home for lions, to be moved from GirG
