Forest fire raged across tall grasslands of Mitiala range of Khamba in Gir (east) through Tuesday and Wednesday. Although no loss of life or injuries have been reported so far, the blaze quickly spread across 300 hectares or three square km area of the sanctuary. While much of the blaze has been brought under control, the danger hasn’t diminished as the region has been hit by strong winds. Gir is the last refuge of the endangered Asiatic lions, with a core area of 258 sq km. Sixty-five km southeast of Junagadh, the entire expanse of Sasan-Gir sanctuary spreads over 1153 km. ‘‘We first sent a 200-strong team of forest department officials and firefighters, led by district forest officer on Tuesday. We increased the numbers to 500 by Wednesday afternoon,’’ said M M Sharma, conservator of forest, Junagadh. The fire began around 4 pm Tuesday and engulfed around 75 hectares of the forest within a couple of hours. ‘‘Officials were confident of containing it, but the fire spread,’’ Sharma said, adding, ‘‘Due to thick growth of grasslands — the grasses here are five to six feet tall — and strong wind, the forest department team found it tough to contain the blaze on the first day.’’ With the forest department calling for an inquiry into the fire, one of the angles, say wildlife experts, that must also be investigated is whether it was a case of controlled fire going out of control. Forest department conducts controlled fires to get rid of excess grass in the region during this time of the year. Sources say the exercise helps lions in hunting for prey. ‘‘This area houses about 18 lions and they basically form a floating population. But no loss to wild life has been reported,’’ said Sharma, adding, ‘‘Either it was an accidental blaze or somebody played a mischief. We are not ruling out anything.’’ Denying that there could be any danger to lions, another official said, ‘‘Lions do not live on hilly terrain, so there was no threat to their lives in the affected areas.’’ The blaze started at 4pm on Tuesday Around 300 hectares of land burnt in Mityana, a part of the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary More than 200 forest personnel called in to fight the fire Blaze brought under control late Wednesday morning, but fire still burning The area is 20 km east of the core area in Amreli district and has tall grass patches Lions in the area have fled to other parts, wardens said But dislocated lions, a fiercely territorial animal, could become disoriented and create problems, even fights with other lions No sabotage suspected as fire could be accidental. Area has not received rainfall since September 2008.
There are just around 350 Asiatic lions left in the wild, all of them in the 1,412 sq km area of the Gir Protected Area (GPA) in Junagarh district of Gujarat. Experts have long been pointing to the need for relocating some of the Gir lions to another site for the sake of long-term health and survival of the species. There’s even an alternative home ready to welcome around 8-10 lions at the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. But there’s a glitch — Gujarat government refuses to part with ‘its lions’. The state government argues that it would rather shift some lions to another place inside Gujarat — like Barda, a sanctuary near Porbandar — than give them to another state. The matter has even reached the Supreme Court, which had last year asked the National Board for Wildlife for a report on the matter. Meanwhile, time could be running out. Says Dr Raghu Chundawat, a expert on big cats, ‘‘Genetic studies of the Gir lions show that it’s a highly inbred population. This means the genetic make-up of the lions are very similar, leaving them extremely susceptible to epidemics. There’s a real danger of disease spreading quickly through the populace.’’ Experts point to an epidemic caused by a morbillivirus, closely resembling canine distemper, that rapidly spread through the lion population of Serengeti in Africa in 1994. It affected 85% of the lions and killed almost a third of the total population. The lions at Serengeti were spread over an area much larger that Gir. Experts say such an epidemic at Gir could bring the Big Cats close to extinction.
There are just around 350 Asiatic lions left in the wild, all of them in the 1,412 sq km area of the Gir Protected Area (GPA) in Junagarh district of Gujarat. Experts have long been pointing to the need for relocating some of the Gir lions to another site for the sake of long-term health and survival of the species. There’s even an alternative home ready to welcome around 8-10 lions at the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. But there’s a glitch — Gujarat government refuses to part with ‘its lions’. The state government argues that it would rather shift some lions to another place inside Gujarat — like Barda, a sanctuary near Porbandar — than give them to another state. The matter has even reached the Supreme Court, which had last year asked the National Board for Wildlife for a report on the matter. Meanwhile, time could be running out. Says Dr Raghu Chundawat, a expert on big cats, ‘‘Genetic studies of the Gir lions show that it’s a highly inbred population. This means the genetic make-up of the lions are very similar, leaving them extremely susceptible to epidemics. There’s a real danger of disease spreading quickly through the populace.’’ Experts point to an epidemic caused by a morbillivirus, closely resembling canine distemper, that rapidly spread through the lion population of Serengeti in Africa in 1994. It affected 85% of the lions and killed almost a third of the total population. The lions at Serengeti were spread over an area much larger that Gir. Experts say such an epidemic at Gir could bring the Big Cats close to extinction.
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