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Asiatic lions seem to have expanded their territory to another area in Saurashtra district of Gujarat as movement of big cats in Potad district has intensified over the past year. With the big cats trying to establish their den, the Forest Department has launched a public awareness campaign to educate people. It also takes measures to make the habitat suitable for the king of the jungle.
Currently, a pride of three lions – a lioness and two young ones – is camped in the Gadada Taluka villages of Potad, which borders Pabra Taluka in Amreli district, and Aradna Sahu, Chief Forest Protection Officer (CCF) at the Junagadh Wildlife Department, told AFP.
“This small pride of lions started exploring new territories far from their home in the Gir East Wildlife section of Amreli and the Botad area got into the process. They have been camping in Botad since the last few months,” Sahu said.
The Junagadh Wildlife Department covers most of the lion landscape, including the Gir (east), Gir (west), Porbandar and Shetrunji wildlife departments dotting the Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts as well as the Blackbuck National Park in Velavadar, Bhavnagar . Lions are also settled in the Bhavnagar Regional Forest Division as well as in the Social Forest Departments in Amreli, Bhavnagar and Gir Somnath among others. The lions that camp in Itaria, Vavdi, Limbadya and Moti Kundal in Ghada near Babra added another area where their presence has remained steady over the past year.
This migration towards Potad started last year but went unnoticed by the locals as the lions did no harm. The area has a good population of wild ungulates such as blue bulls (nilgai) and feral cattle, which are a prey base for lions,” the CDC said.
Ayush Verma, Deputy Governor of the Social Forest Department of Potad, said the area is ready to host lions and the forest department has launched a public awareness campaign to prevent any possibility of human-animal conflict.
“While we cannot say that lions have settled permanently in Potad, movements of lions have been reported in the area over the past two years. Movement of lions has intensified over the past year and at least six lions have been recorded,” Verma said.
“This is a positive development and stakes are ready to host lions. We have held meetings with villagers to make them aware of the development. We have also installed warning signs and boards to alert the general public that the area has a movement of lions. In addition, we have also created artificial water points in the area to improve habitat for the big cats.” .
Verma, who previously served in the Gir forest, which forms the core of lion habitat in Saurashtra, said Botad’s social forestry department has also initiated lion management activities. “Over the past three months, we have been implementing the Poonam Avalokan. Not only that, but we have also started keeping records of observations of lions in the area,” DCF said.
Poonam Avalocan is the monthly exercise conducted by the Gujarat Forest Department to take the number of lions on every full moon night.
There are reserved forests, government wasteland, and jauchar (pastoral village land) at Pabra Taluka, about 70 km northwest of Dhari, the headquarters of the Wildlife Department of Gir (East). Barbara records the movement of the lion for many years.
In November 2019, two adult lions crossed two branches to Jasdan Taluka in Rajkot district via Babra. They moved north to reach the Vinchhiya taluka before moving on to the Chotila taluka of Surendragar, also in the north. However, they started moving towards Jirnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Junagadh district in April 2020 and reached the forest by traversing 140 kilometers in seven days.
Lions are territorial animals, which means that they mark and guard their territories fiercely. However, as their population has been growing in Gujarat for three decades, the Gir Forest has been littered with big cats. They spread east towards Bhavnagar, in the south towards the coastal belt of Rajula, Jaffrabad, and Sutrapada, and in the west towards Mangrol, Porbandar, and others. The lions have been visiting the Gondal taluka in Rajkot and even venturing into the outskirts of Rajkot for the past two or three years.
During the Poonam Avalacun in 2020, which replaced the lion census that was due that year, 674 lions were counted in Saurashtra and as many as 329 lions, or about 49 percent of them, were recorded outside forest areas.
Besides Gadhda, Verma said, the Garyadhar forest social group in Bhavnagar records the regular presence of lions. “One lion also encamps in Velavadar. He has gone to Velavadar and returned towards Amreli,” said Sahu.
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