Gujarat's Barda Wildlife Sanctuary new translocation site for Asiatic lions

Gujarat's Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, located near coastal city of Porbandar and 100 kms from Gir National Park, has been identified as a potential second home for Asiatic lions, according to the govt

Gujarat's Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, located near the coastal city of Porbandar and 100 kilometres from the Gir National Park, has been identified as a potential second home for Asiatic lions, according to the government.

Efforts were being made since the 1990s to find a relocation site for the Asiatic lions within Gujarat and outside the state, considering that the species is vulnerable to extinction threats from epidemics because of low genetic diversity.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ordered the government to translocate Asiatic lions from Gujarat to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh within six months. It had also rejected a proposal to introduce the African cheetah in Kuno.

After the apex court allowed the introduction of African cheetah in India on an experimental basis in January 2020, eight cheetahs from Namibia have been reintroduced in Kuno, but the translocation of lions is still pending.

Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Lok Sabha on Monday, "As per the document titled 'Project Lion: Lion @47 vision for Amrutkal' the Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, Gujarat, has been identified and assessed by the Wildlife Institute of India as a potential site where a population of 40 adult and sub-adult lions can be accommodated in the larger landscape of Barda-Alech hills and coastal forests through natural dispersal."

He was replying to a question by Congress MP D K Suresh.

Experts, however, said Barda is not an ideal home for Asiatic lions for several reasons.

"Barda cannot be a replacement for Kuno because it is barely 100 kilometres from Gir as the crow flies. Geographic separation is the primary objective of translocation to establish a second free-ranging population of lions to mitigate conservation risks," wildlife expert and coordinator of Biodiversity Collaborative, Bengaluru, Ravi Chellam told PTI.

If a cyclone hits Saurashtra, it is also likely to affect Barda. One hundred kilometres is not a large enough distance to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, he said.

"Also, Barda barely spans 190 square kilometres. Lions are territorial animals. How many of them can be kept in an area of less than 200 square kilometres? Forty animals are not a self-sustaining population. Last but not the least, let us not forget that the 2013 order of the Supreme Court still remains to be implemented," Chellam said.

Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey also told the Lok Sabha that 240 lions have died in Gir forests between 2013-14 and 2022-23 (up to November 2022) as per the Gujarat Forest Department.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in 2020, the number of Asiatic lions in Gir forests has gone up from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020.

The lions have moved to forested patches through conducive corridors. They are now distributed in nine districts of Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Botad, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Surendranagar, covering around 30,000 square kilometres, which is termed the Asiatic Lion Landscape.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had told the Rajya Sabha on December 15 translocation of the Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh will be done only after consultations between empowered committees of the two states covering all aspects, including evaluation of the habitat proposed, procedures and guidelines required to be followed and also the safety and security.