<p>New Delhi: A total of 669 <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/asiatic-lion">Asiatic lions</a> have died in the last five years but no deaths were recorded due to poaching, the government said on Thursday.</p>.<p>The Gir forest in Gujarat is the only natural habitat of the Asiatic lions.</p>.<p>Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said 142 lions died in 2020, 124 in 2021, 117 in 2022, 121 in 2023 and 165 lions died in 2024.</p>.PM Modi goes on safari in Gir, lauds tribals for preserving habitat of Asiatic lions.<p>"As reported by the (Gujarat) state government, the reported causes of lion deaths include old age, illness, injuries from fights, cub mortality, falling into open wells, electrocution, accidents etc." he said.</p>.<p>The minister also said there were no incidents of poaching leading to death of lions during these years.</p>.<p>The most recent estimate in June 2020 put the Asiatic lion population in Gujarat at 674, up from 523 in 2015.</p>.<p>In February, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told the Upper House that there is a sufficient prey base for lions in Gir and that the population of prey animals has been increasing.</p>.<p>Over the years, experts have demanded translocation of lions in India as the big cats have been geographically isolated in Gir. A second home would protect the lion population from extinction in case of an epidemic, an unexpected decline in prey or natural calamities.</p>.Forest land more than Delhi's total area diverted for development projects in 10 years: Govt data.<p>In September 2018, 27 lions in Gir died because of canine distemper virus (CDV) while 37 others had to be quarantined.</p>.<p>A document from the Gujarat chief wildlife warden's office shows that the lions' distribution area increased from 22,000 sq km in 2015 to 30,000 sq km in 2020.</p>.<p>A 2022 scientific report in Nature journal revealed that 48 per cent of the current lion population of 674 has dispersed outside protected areas, spanning nine districts and 13 forest administrative divisions.</p>.<p>In 2013, the Supreme Court directed the government to translocate Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Kuno National Park in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh within six months. However, nearly a decade later, cheetahs were introduced to Kuno from Africa as part of the world's first intercontinental translocation of big cats.</p>.<p>In December 2022, former minister of state for environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed Rajya Sabha that the Wildlife Institute of India had identified Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, around 100 km from the Gir National Park, as a "potential site where a population of 40 adult and sub-adult lions could be accommodated within the larger landscape of Barda-Alech hills and coastal forests through natural dispersal".</p>.<p>The Gujarat forest department also operates a breeding centre for herbivores within the Barda sanctuary to increase the prey base for lions.</p>
<p>New Delhi: A total of 669 <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/asiatic-lion">Asiatic lions</a> have died in the last five years but no deaths were recorded due to poaching, the government said on Thursday.</p>.<p>The Gir forest in Gujarat is the only natural habitat of the Asiatic lions.</p>.<p>Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said 142 lions died in 2020, 124 in 2021, 117 in 2022, 121 in 2023 and 165 lions died in 2024.</p>.PM Modi goes on safari in Gir, lauds tribals for preserving habitat of Asiatic lions.<p>"As reported by the (Gujarat) state government, the reported causes of lion deaths include old age, illness, injuries from fights, cub mortality, falling into open wells, electrocution, accidents etc." he said.</p>.<p>The minister also said there were no incidents of poaching leading to death of lions during these years.</p>.<p>The most recent estimate in June 2020 put the Asiatic lion population in Gujarat at 674, up from 523 in 2015.</p>.<p>In February, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told the Upper House that there is a sufficient prey base for lions in Gir and that the population of prey animals has been increasing.</p>.<p>Over the years, experts have demanded translocation of lions in India as the big cats have been geographically isolated in Gir. A second home would protect the lion population from extinction in case of an epidemic, an unexpected decline in prey or natural calamities.</p>.Forest land more than Delhi's total area diverted for development projects in 10 years: Govt data.<p>In September 2018, 27 lions in Gir died because of canine distemper virus (CDV) while 37 others had to be quarantined.</p>.<p>A document from the Gujarat chief wildlife warden's office shows that the lions' distribution area increased from 22,000 sq km in 2015 to 30,000 sq km in 2020.</p>.<p>A 2022 scientific report in Nature journal revealed that 48 per cent of the current lion population of 674 has dispersed outside protected areas, spanning nine districts and 13 forest administrative divisions.</p>.<p>In 2013, the Supreme Court directed the government to translocate Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Kuno National Park in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh within six months. However, nearly a decade later, cheetahs were introduced to Kuno from Africa as part of the world's first intercontinental translocation of big cats.</p>.<p>In December 2022, former minister of state for environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed Rajya Sabha that the Wildlife Institute of India had identified Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, around 100 km from the Gir National Park, as a "potential site where a population of 40 adult and sub-adult lions could be accommodated within the larger landscape of Barda-Alech hills and coastal forests through natural dispersal".</p>.<p>The Gujarat forest department also operates a breeding centre for herbivores within the Barda sanctuary to increase the prey base for lions.</p>