Saving wildlife's pride

The massive flooding in Gujarat's Saurashtra region, which has claimed scores of lives and displaced hundreds more, has caused concern regarding an unusual factor: Wildlife safety, or more specifically, the welfare of the Asiatic lion in the Gir National Park. The big cats here are a global attraction, for this is the only place in the world where they have survived. After being pushed to the brink of extinction due to excessive hunting, their numbers have steadily increased in the past two decades. A census conducted earlier this year counted an all-time high of 523 lions in the region.

This is not just a success story for Indian wildlife conservation or a talking point for Indian tourism; it's a gift of nature to mankind. Against this backdrop, the eight Asiatic lion carcasses that have emerged after the floods, have understandably evoked much concern. Only earlier this month, photographs of wild animals, which had escaped from the zoo in the flooded Georgian capital of Tbilisi, had taken the world by surprise. Unfortunately, none of the big cats there survived and many other animals perished when their enclosures were flooded. In India, wildlife officials put the death toll for the Gir lions at nine.

Understandably, many are worried that it may rise even further, if the marooned lions are unable to access food and water, or worse still, find themselves in adversarial situations against besieged humans. These are legitimate concerns, but there's no need to blow matters out of proportion. First, the waters are receding and if there is no fresh flooding, then the situation should improve. Second, about 100 forest officials are already risking their lives to track down the besieged lions. local trackers, who have been monitoring these lions for generations and have a special bond with the animals, are also on the job. Third, the lions, precious as they may be, are not fragile. They have their own defences and will fight for survival. Some losses are inevitable during natural calamities, but nature has its own ways of restoring balance. Fourth, the Gir forest has a healthy lion population and there is no reason to assume that the flood will put the Asiatic lion back on the critically endangered list. Finally, comparisons with the tragedy in Georgia, are best avoided.

The Georgian animals escaped from the zoo and landed in the middle of the city. The Gir lions, on the other hand, are expected to have moved to higher grounds within the protected zones. Some members of the public have expressed alarm at the sighting of the lions along national highways. But as forest officials underline, this is nothing new. Especially since the lion population has increased, mostly outside of the core protected areas (within these areas, the population has stabilised), the lions are often seen along the highways etc. 

That said, the floods should serve as a reminder to the authorities of the dangers of having all the lions in one area. Though the flood will not disrupt overall conservation efforts, a disease, for example — of the sort that killed more than a 1,000 African lions over just a few days in Tanzania's Serengeti reserve in 1994 — cannot be ruled out. In 2013, the Supreme Court had ruled that some of the Gir lions should be relocated to Madhya Pradesh but the order was contested. Now is a good time to debate that.