Sasan Gir National Park Sanctuary

Last but not the least is the people's participation that was given credit for the spectacular increase in the population. "We got the maximum of people's participation in the census process this time. Lots and lots of volunteers had joined the exercise," the forest department stated.

Be that as it may, the main functionaries in lion conservation are the residents of the surrounding villages, who do not flinch when a lion kills their livestock. How possessive the villagers are about the lions is evident from this incident of 2007.

Soon after the poaching incidents in 2007, the forest department was seeking help from the villagers for better protection of the lions. The villagers said they would help the department only if it promised that it would not take away any of the lions (meaning, the relocation proposal of the central government).

"'You do not worry about the lions preying on our livestock that is our internal issue. The lions are part of our family; we can deal with them. But don't take them away,' the villagers told me. I was totally impressed by their humane legacy," Modi said.

Much as the king of the jungle gets the lion's share of attention, one should not overlook the other wildlife which keeps the ecosystem robust. Principal Secretary, department of environment and forests, Gujarat, SK Nanda said all volunteers had reported sighting large numbers of sambars, retells and porcupines. "The population of Sambar is estimated to be around 48,000, there are 250 leopards in the Gir Jungle and 1,070 all over Gujarat," he said.

Sasan Gir National Park – 72 Asiatic Lions Die in Last 2 years

Gujarat Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Asiatic lions are the pride of Gujarat and he won't part with them. But the animals seem to be endangered in their sole habitat. The Gujarat State Government has admitted that 72 Asiatic lions died in the Gir Sanctuary in the past two years.

Of them, one was killed by poachers and the rest, the government claimed, were from natural causes. Replying to a question in the assembly, the state government said on Tuesday that there were only 291 lions left in the Gir sanctuary as on December 31, 2009.

Among them were 100 lionesses and 123 cubs in a park spread over 1,400 sq km of Sasan Gir forest area. Conservationists have long complained that Gir Jungle was overcrowded and some lions need to be shifted to a sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. But Modi has repeatedly said he wasn't going to share the state's biggest tourist attraction.

More than 13,500 open wells in Gir pose a threat to lions, many of which have been killed after falling into them. Many lion deaths in Gir Wildlife Sanctuary have occurred from fights between the animals. "There are several deaths because of territorial fights over lionesses," says conservationist Sanat Chavan.

However, some officials say though lions are dying in large numbers, the total population is higher than what the government gave the assembly. Principal Chief Conservator of forests Pradeep Khanna told TOI that the data was only about lions in the protected area.

"Lions are also found in Girnar hills, in the coastal area as well as in Bhavnagar District and other parts outside the sanctuary. The last census showed there were 359 lions. The next census will be held by April this year," he said.

Asiatic Lions Sasan Gir National Park Wildlife Junagadh District News

Here it’s really good news for all natural lovers especially from Gujarati of Garva Gujarat that, proposal of Union minister for forest and environment Jairam Ramesh's offer for tigers in lieu of lions likely to reject by Narendra Modi Gujarat Government.

Main reason was behind that the neighboring state Madhya Pradesh would walk away with all its tourists who come to Gujarat to see the Asiatic lions in and around Gir National Park.

Every year Gir Forest and Devalia national park visited by Over one lakh domestic and international visitors. Retired wildlife official GA Patel said that "Gujarat will have to strongly oppose the transfer on technical grounds.

The state has a strong point as tiger and lions cannot stay together". Sanat Chauhan, another wildlife veteran, said, "Tourism in Gujarat would be affected as MP just wants to create a small lion safari which would be a big draw." Madhya Pradesh already has tigers in Kanha, Bandhavgarh and other sanctuaries.

If Gujarat Government accept this offer than as per mine opinion as one Kathiyavadi from Saurashtra, we surely have lost!!

Sasan Gir National Park Sanctuary Junagadh District News Gujarat India

The Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi government will not make any compromise when it comes to Asiatic lions found only in Gujarat's Gir reserve forest. Not even when it a friendly and BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government's fervent request for relocating one or two prides of lions to Sheopur district.

Before the Supreme Court, the Modi government through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi on Thursday raised as many as six objections to the Centre's almost decade-old proposal to relocate some lions from Gir to a 300 sq km forest at Kunopalpur in Sheopur district of MP.

Though the Modi government virtually signalled burial of the plan, the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government would not mind giving a final try as its counsel senior advocate Soli J Sorabjee said both sides would sit down and try for a solution.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices B S Chauhan and C K Prasad gave four weeks time to report back about the outcome of the last ditch attempt to make the relocation project workable and even suggested taking out an insurance package for the lions.

The Centre's plan, devised to save lions from a potential future disaster that could wipe them off as all of them are concentrated in the Gir forest, involved relocating two prides of lions numbering between 12 and 16 to Madhya Pradesh.

Amicus curiae Raj Panjwani informed the Bench that residents of as many as 24 villages falling within the identified area have been relocated in 2003, but the plan mooted by the Wildlife Insitute of India and approved by the National Board for Wildlife was still hanging fire.

Rohtagi said the state's opposition to the plan was based not on political but on solid environmental grounds. He said even the wildlife experts feel that lions could not be relocated to experimental surroundings already habited by tigers.

He said the number of Asiatic lions was increasing in Gujarat because of comprehensive action against poachers and the friendly villagers in and around Gir who do not wreck vengeance even if a lion occassionally mauled a bovine animal. In contrast, the tiger population in the jungles of MP were dwindling fast because of poaching and shrinking habitat, he added.

Rohatgi also objected to the relocation project being continued for 20 years. "It is not a question of taking away one or two lions. What they want is a continuance of the exchange programme for 20 years, which is not feasible," Rohatgi said.

The study for the relocation of some of the Asiatic lions to MP took into account the disaster some years back in Seringeti forest in Africa where a disease -- canine distemper -- wiped out 80% of the lion population within a short span.

Rohatgi said this apprehension has been taken care of as the state has already started building a second home for the Asiatic lions at a safe reserve forest in Girnar Parvat area.

Asiatic Lions Sasan Gir National Park Wildlife Jungle News India

Sasan Gir Wildlife Forest patrol staff to be equipped with GPS units.

Project will be in three phases starting 2010; will help Gir forest department maintain cartographic data on lion population.

Five hundred field staff manning the Sasan Gir Jungle will now have to be on their toes as senior officers of the Forest Department will be monitoring their on-field movements.

This comes after the state Ministry of Forest and Environment finalized the Rs 20 crore project of equipping the field staff with the Global Positioning System (GPS) Hand Held Units (HHU).

With this, the Forest Department will now be equipped to monitor the Asiatic lions on a daily basis by the end of 2010. This will fill up several gaps in the management, they say.

The project is the outcome of recommendations by the task force formed by MOEF on May 25, 2007 following a series of reports of poaching of Asiatic lions.

This system with a Geographical Information System (GIS) control room at the Junagadh forest office will provide a daily account of the surveillance activity and the dispersal of the big cats in the two divisions of Sasan Gir National Park.

Any senior officer at the headquarters will be able to keep daily tabs on the Asiatic lions and the surveillance staff with the help of maps — updated daily through the GIS system. Forest officers will know about the the location of the surveillance staff in the forest areas, as also which portion of the lion habitat has been patrolled or skipped in a month or in a week.

The system will also help keep tabs on areas where man and animal conflict has increased or decreased.

Senior officers at Gir said the entire lion habitat could be visualised through this system.

Pradeep Khanna, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Administration, said: “The tender for HHUs will be issued shortly. At present, 500 field staff will be equipped with these. Each of the HHUs will have specifications on the location of a kill and the reason behind the lion deaths (trauma or accidents). The project will be in three phases, beginning 2010. The state Forest Department intends to extend it to nearly 1,000 field staff.”

He said: “The Bangalore-based soft ware firm CMC institute will work on the project,” adding that the government has given the go ahead.

A senior forest officer said: “Nearly 20 per cent of the total population of Asiatic lions will be radio-collared so that their daily dispersal pattern can be properly assessed. At present, the monitoring of animal movement is limited to few research studies and projects.”

He said the day-to-day sightings are recorded and reported in forms, reports and registers, but the compilation and collation of such voluminous data for the entire lion population or even of the Gir Protected Area Network is manually not feasible on a daily or weekly basis.

“A longer time period will render the data obsolete. It is impossible to maintain a cartographic record of such data over a few years to generate long-term time-series and use it for trend-forecasting. But with the GIS in place, the forest officers will have ready data of the dispersal pattern of Asiatic lions,” he added.

Asiatic Lions Sasan Gir Town Talala Taluka Junagadh District News Gujarat India

Sasan Gir Town (Talala Taluka, Junagadh District) observes bandh in protest against Asiatic Lion's death.

Sasan town in Junagadh district, famous for Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, on Wednesday observed a half day bandh to protest against forest department’s failure of saving a lion which died after falling down from a bridge.

Entire village remained closed for half-day even auto rickshaw and ferry service operators also extended their support by joining in the bandh which was called by local residents in protest against the forest department, sources said.

They also submitted a memorandum to the forest department and demanded that strict action be taken against the responsible forest officials whose alleged carelessness caused a lion's death, they said.

An eight-year-lion died yesterday after falling off a 15 meter bridge constructed on a Hiran river.

The villagers in the memorandum also sought that lion show being organized by the forest department for tourist should be cancelled to save life of lions.

However, deputy conservator of forest, Amit Kumar could not be contacted to highlight the cause of the lion's death but sources from the forest department did not rule out possibility that the lion might have been hit by a moving vehicle.

Gir National Park Sasan Forest Jungle Asiatic Lions Junagadh Gujarat India

IBM to help create 'Little Africa' in Gujarat.

In a bid to provide employment to youth of the African-origin Sidi community settled in Saurashtra, Gujarat government has planned to create a ‘Little Africa’ on the fringes of Gir forest by developing a theme-based resort.

The resort to be developed on 25 acres of land would be promoted by global giant IBM. The tribal development department of the state government has entered into a tie-up with IBM India for the project.

“The Rs 10-crore project, excluding the cost of land, would be fully funded by the Gujarat government. IBM will provide expertise to select a private partner to run the resort. It will also provide consultancy to market this ‘Little Africa’ across the world to lure maximum tourists,” said Per Yorgansen, project manager, IBM Denmark, who is in Ahmedabad for IBM’s Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program.

Pallavi Shukla, senior consultant to the state government for the project, said that development work would start by March 2010 and the resort would be functional in three years.

“Around 200 Sidi youth will get direct employment. Besides, there would be plenty of indirect employment opportunities as a ‘gram haat’ to display Sidi handicraft will be set up. Every evening there would be cultural events featuring Sidi ‘Dhamal’ dance troupe, which is very popular,” said Shukla.

The resort would be a replica of a typical Sidi village. Even interiors of all the 30 rooms would have an African touch. A museum would display various facets of Sidi life in and around Gir Jungle Forest, especially their interface with the Asiatic Lions.

The Sidi community came to India from East Africa as slaves around 500 years ago. Their population is currently 10,000 in Gujarat, concentrated mainly on the periphery of the Gir forest in Junagadh district