Western India: Endangered lion population soars

DW (English)

Conservation efforts have been so successful in the Indian state of Gujarat that numbers of endangered Asiatic lions are now almost out of control.

Transcript

00:00Chyutabai is actually a cattle herder by trade, but it's been weeks since he last brought

00:07his animals to pasture. He's too afraid, after a lioness attacked him while they were grazing.

00:15She grabbed me with her claws on my back and my thigh.

00:23We are in Saurashtra, a region in the heart of Gujarat in Western India. This is the last

00:29remaining habitat of Asiatic lions. For nearly 60 years, the lions have been living around

00:35Gir National Park on more than 1,400 sq km of land set up to protect them. During India's

00:43colonial era, the number of lions plummeted due to excessive hunting and poaching. Since

00:49then, the population has made a strong recovery. Experts estimate that there are now 900 Asiatic

00:55lions living in this area. Wildlife biologist Dr. Meena Venkataraman has been studying the

01:06animals here for more than 20 years. She estimates that around half of the population has long

01:11since spread beyond the boundaries of the national park.

01:15Here, what happens is, so you have a home range of two groups. When the space is less,

01:23they could slide over each other and there's a lot of overlap in the home range. Even that

01:30has happened and I recorded that during my study. And there is a point beyond which,

01:36you know, there is a need for lions to disperse out and find new territories.

01:44But the population in rural areas has also increased in recent years. That's led to a

01:49greater need for farmland. Villages are expanding. And even more lions from the national park

01:55also live in the area. A unique coexistence has developed between predators and people.

02:04We probably have three, four generations of lions that have, you know, lived or born in

02:09these so-called satellite habitats. Yes, they have adapted to that life. Their social, you

02:16know, the organization, their grouping patterns change and what their diet also depends on,

02:24you know, where they are and what is easily available. Probably more of livestock depredation,

02:31but yes, they have adapted.

02:34Local residents are learning to live alongside the lions. There is a sense of caution because

02:39in recent years, lions have repeatedly attacked people. Ramesh Chauhan is a social worker

02:46who studied the coexistence between people and lions for his doctoral thesis. He says

02:52that the lions were here first and so people must learn to live with them. He regularly

02:57visits villages and talks to residents about how to behave if they encounter a lion.

03:05If a farmer goes out to the fields and encounters a lion on the way, we tell them not to panic.

03:11Instead, they should just stand completely still and let the lions walk past peacefully.

03:16This is how we show respect to the animal and in turn gain its trust.

03:26We meet people in Gujarat's Amreli district near the coast. It's about 150 kilometers

03:31from Giru National Park. The lions have now reached as far as here. The first ones arrived

03:3710 years ago.

03:39The Shetrunji river flows through here and the lions are very active all along it. They

03:48live there. But there is hardly any human-animal conflict here. People live their lives as

03:53usual and the lions move around freely.

03:58For the lions, however, this coexistence is not without danger. Time and again the

04:03big cats are killed in train accidents or are injured on electric fences.

04:12In September 2024, the Ministry of Forestry proposes establishing eco-sensitive zones

04:18around the Giru National Park. The idea is to create a 10 km buffer zone functioning

04:23as a transition area for the animals with minimal human activity.

04:29A key problem is that the lions are finding less and less food. There is hardly any natural

04:34wild prey near residential areas, leaving only people's livestock and dogs. A risky

04:40development for the lions warns Ravi Chellam, one of the earliest researchers into the Asiatic

04:46lions of Giru.

04:48We are exposing the species to great risks. And this came to roost in 2018 when an outbreak

04:56of disease resulted in at least officially 40 or 60 lions dying in a matter of days.

05:02But my information is more than 100 lions died then and lions continue to die due to

05:08diseases. And with lions living outside being exposed to dogs, dead cattle and other carcasses,

05:14the chances of them catching diseases only increase. While lions might seem friendly,

05:20while lions might allow close approach, while lions in general don't attack people, this

05:27should in no way allow us to underestimate what a lion is. It is a wild, large cat. A

05:35big male can weigh 200 kilos plus. It has its teeth, it has its claws, it can put it

05:42to use.

05:44The scientists' research findings were enough to convince the Indian Supreme Court

05:48in 2013 to order the state of Gujarat to relocate some lions in an attempt to protect the species

05:54in the long run. However, the relocation has not yet happened and in the meantime, humans

06:00and lions are learning to share a habitat.

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