Large carnivores have always been a source of fascination for people and our relationships with them vary from awe and inspiration to fear and loathing. More than any other animals, carnivores have forced us to move from ecosystem theory to ecosystem management and conservation with a focal shift from species to systems and from science vs. management to science and management. Large carnivores often provide the ultimate test of society’s willingness to conserve wildlife and thus have traditionally served as a charismatic conservation flagship worldwide. Nevertheless, recent assessments of the conservation status of carnivores present an alarming picture of ongoing declines and range contractions. Although carnivore conservation across the globe -- and particularly in an agrarian country like India -- is fraught with human dominations of potential habitats, poaching and fragmentation, the Gir lions in the westernmost state of Gujarat, India, have an altogether different story to narrate.
The Asiatic lion evolved during Pleistocene with several cousin species in sub-Saharan Africa and separated from its African counterparts some 50,000 to 2 million years back. The species once roamed from Palestine to Palamau (Bihar, India) but the last free-ranging lion population of Asia was separated from mainland India some 2,500 years back owing to the rising Gulf of Khambhat. This caused severe inbreeding in the lion population, making the subspecies more prone to extinction. The onset of the twentieth century was catastrophic for the lions. Outgrowths of the Industrial Revolution were evident in India under the Raj. Increased demand of timber for World War, railways, telegraph rapidly destroyed forest lands. Advent of modern arms led to indiscriminate game hunting. Lions dwindled to below 50 individuals and became restricted to the Gir forests. It was only then, fortunately, that the species was benefitted from ecological patriotism from the Soruth Sarkar Nawab Mahbatkhanji II of Junagadh state. The Nawab totally banned lion hunting. First salvo of protecting lions soon turned into an ownership by the last Nawab, a patronage being held up till date by the state government of Gujarat. At the stroke of the midnight hour, lions had their own “tryst with destiny”! The initial years of independence were full of political mayhem which offshoot into unforeseen onslaught of lions and herbivores in Saurashtra by princelings, landlords and nobility. However, the situation changed soon after Saurashtra metamorphosed into a part of Gujarat state under the Dominion of India in the early 1960s and state conservation machineries such as forest department came into action. Although several conservation lobbies opine contrarily, one should not undermine pro-active management by Gujarat forest department in resurrecting India’s lions from less than 200 in 1968 to the current figure of more than 400 in 40 years. When lions of West Africa today struggle hard not to get extinct, Gir lions triumphantly inhabit new parts of Saurashtra and now occupy a landscape of about 20,000 km2 outside the Gir forest, encompassing vast tract of agro-pastoral landscapes .
There are, however, deep concerns too! With lions living in the propinquity of humans, conflicts are not far away. Lions are residing in areas where people (mostly young generations) do not have a recent memory of living with lions and this is likely to escalate human-lion confrontations in the future as lion numbers increases and range expands further. Lions do need daytime habitat refugia characterized by small grasslands, orchards and agricultural covers (Prosospis thickets) in the landscape and such patches are extremely crucial for maintenance of breeding nuclei and minimizing conflicts with people. However, with increased urbanization, agricultural intensification, sedentarization of pastoralism and potential for lion-centric tourisms, traditional land-use patterns of lion occupied areas of Saurashtra are fast succumbing to land mafias such as mining companies and tourism big shots. While the government machinery is busy managing lion populations inside the Protected Areas, lions in the larger landscape often fall prey to human-induced mortalities (electrocution, fall in open irrigation wells, road accidents etc.), sometimes even unnoticed. The protected area of Gir will undeniably remain a lion stronghold unabated for the long-term unless the population is affected by an environmental stochastic event, but conserving lions in the outer landscape while maintaining ecological linkages (habitat corridors) with Gir is imperative to ensure long-term viability of Gir lions. It is sometimes unfortunate to find that in the absence of a clear-cut land policy, government has very little control over such crucial habitat patches needed for future lion conservation. We must acknowledge that ‘vibrant Gujarat’ may not be parallel with ‘green Gujarat’: one element has to lose the race and it is the forest that has been losing the duel since the dawn of human civilization .
There are, however, deep concerns too! With lions living in the propinquity of humans, conflicts are not far away. Lions are residing in areas where people (mostly young generations) do not have a recent memory of living with lions and this is likely to escalate human-lion confrontations in the future as lion numbers increases and range expands further. Lions do need daytime habitat refugia characterized by small grasslands, orchards and agricultural covers (Prosospis thickets) in the landscape and such patches are extremely crucial for maintenance of breeding nuclei and minimizing conflicts with people. However, with increased urbanization, agricultural intensification, sedentarization of pastoralism and potential for lion-centric tourisms, traditional land-use patterns of lion occupied areas of Saurashtra are fast succumbing to land mafias such as mining companies and tourism big shots. While the government machinery is busy managing lion populations inside the Protected Areas, lions in the larger landscape often fall prey to human-induced mortalities (electrocution, fall in open irrigation wells, road accidents etc.), sometimes even unnoticed. The protected area of Gir will undeniably remain a lion stronghold unabated for the long-term unless the population is affected by an environmental stochastic event, but conserving lions in the outer landscape while maintaining ecological linkages (habitat corridors) with Gir is imperative to ensure long-term viability of Gir lions. It is sometimes unfortunate to find that in the absence of a clear-cut land policy, government has very little control over such crucial habitat patches needed for future lion conservation. We must acknowledge that ‘vibrant Gujarat’ may not be parallel with ‘green Gujarat’: one element has to lose the race and it is the forest that has been losing the duel since the dawn of human civilization .
The socio-political backdrop of lion conservation is as vital as the land issue. Most local people in the larger landscape perceive lions as an economic tool for income generation (such as tourism and agricultural pest control) and like having lions in their neighborhood (but interestingly not in their own backyards!!!) up to a certain acceptable level (social and biological carrying capacities). Gujarat has no compensation scheme for crop damage and social backlashes are often directed against lions as a non-target species (deaths from electrocution in farmlands where illegal electric fences are erected to manage crop-damaging ungulates). In this Android era, when consumerism and utilitarian values are rapidly displacing our custodian role of nature and natural resources, even a minuscule economic loss overlooked in the past as fait accompli may be counterproductive for lion conservation.
Kausik Banerjee has been working on the Asiatic lions for the past nine years. Since obtaining his doctoral degree in lion ecology from the Forest Research Institute of India he has worked as a Research Associate at WII. His research interests include carnivore ecology and behaviour with an emphasis on resource selection, prey-predator dynamics and human–carnivore conflicts.