A video of a pride of eight Asiatic lions roaming in the street of mountain town Junagadh became viral on social media. The video was captured on Tuesday late in the evening.
Just six km from Junagadh, Girnar forest is situated where movement of Asiatic lions are common. At the foothill of Gujarat’s tallest mountain — Mount Girnar — people often spot wild animals like lions, leopard, blue bulls and other animals. However, this time lions were spotted near Girnar Darwaja area, which is hardly 3 km from the foothill of Mount Girnar.
Though people staying in the residencies near Mount Girnar are used of such wild animals, but after the video of eight lions became viral some panic was seen among the local people.
The video was captured by one Mrunal Joshi, a resident of Junagadh. According to him he was amazed to see pride of eight lions near Girnar Darwaja area.
The lions didn’t attack anyone, and peacefully passed through the residential areas and eloped in the nearby Girnar forest, he added. In fact he captured the lions in his mobile camera at around 2.30 am on Tuesday when there was no movement to human beings.
It is worth mentioning that Girnar Darwaja area of Junagadh is the entrance of the city from Rajkot side and there are many commercial establishments are there apart from residencies. Even couple of schools and hospitals are also situated in the area.
According to forest officials, nearly 45 Asiatic lions are there in Girnar Wildlife Sanctuary spread over around 17,800 hectares surrounding Girnar Mountain range.