16th Asiatic lion census to take place in May, announces PM Modi

Ahmedabad/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced conducting the next round of Asiatic lion estimation in May while noting that prey augmentation exercise would be carried out at Barda Wildlife Sanctuary which has emerged as a new home for the big cats.

The lion census will be the most intense this time due to a sharp rise in the lion population and their spread across nine districts spanning over 30,000 sq km area.

Considering that the Asiatic Lions made Barda Wildlife Sanctuary their home through natural dispersal, Modi said lion conservation in Barda would be supported through prey augmentation and other habitat improvement efforts.

Veterans in wildlife conservation, however, pointed out that a new lion habitat at Barda was not what the Supreme Court had ordered in 2013.

“Barda has been talked about as a second home for the lions since at least the 1970s. I am glad the lions have reached Barda and the government is taking efforts to manage Barda. But this by no means is the implementation of the Supreme Court’s April 15, 2013 lion translocation order,” Ravi Chellam, CEO, Metastring Foundation and Coordinator, Biodiversity Collaborative told DH.

“Barda is barely 100 km away as a crow flies from Gir and as a result there is no real geographical isolation from risks that would be faced by the lion population in Gir. Barda is also too small an area to sustain a stand alone lion population,” Chellam said.

Asked about the upcoming lion census, Gujarat Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of the Forest Force, AP Singh told DH that the exercise would be undertaken in May for which preparations had started. There will be a preliminary estimation followed by final estimation which takes place for two days.

Singh said the lion population was initially limited to three districts covering an area between 10,000 sq km to 15,000 sq km, but now spread beyond nine districts in an area over 30,000 sq km.

With a significant rise in the lion, - 674 as per 2020 estimation - their spotting has become routine not only in the forest areas but also in busy market streets of towns and cities of Saurashtra.

Many times, a whole pride of big cats have been captured in CCTV footage installed outside residence and commercial units.

The last detailed census was carried out in 2015 when GIS (Geographic Information System), GPS (Global Positioning System), wireless technologies, camera traps, range finders, digital cameras, among others tools were used. This time a large number of CCTV cameras are also going to be used in the exercise.

Since the lions have dispersed to non-forest areas as well, assistance will be taken from village sarpanches, school teachers as well along with the NGOs, experts as well as environmentalists.

Asiatic lions were less than 50 in numbers and were restricted to Gir forest by late 1890s. The union government included them in the list of 21 critically endangered species for its conservation.