Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project

[Wolverine]

(10-11-2018, 01:26 PM)Rishi Wrote:

(10-11-2018, 08:33 AM)Rage2277 Wrote: idk..this article is utter rubbish..doesn't make any sense..he's talking as if these so called lion lovers are literally bringing lions into revenue land,the lions go where they please..but how far can they go? surrounded by ever growing towns and villages..soon there will be no room in all of gujarat for them,their range needs to be extended,at some point they will be needed to repopulate some of their former ranges in areas like iran..no one is making this a bs political issue but you samir shulka and the rest of the sad gujarat government,kuh.. there is not even a decent excuse to not relocate the lions..how pathetic

Erm.. That's not what he's saying. And that's definitely not what i endorse!

He says the FD is being bound to manage the lions on revenue lands due to the "lovers" hailing the situation. If there was pressure on them to accommodate the lions within proper habitats, then they'd have already been translocated to other forests.

I too would like to see lions in Thar desert & Iran's ranges.

What i don't want to see, is lions in Kuno-Palpur. Here's why:  

1. Potential the Ranthambore-Kuno-Madhav-Panna corridor has, both qualitative & proximity wise. 
   Just look at the movements of male tigers overflowing out of Panna recently...
   
   
   *This image is copyright of its original author
   
   ...And compare how much lower resistance the western route offers!
   
   
   *This image is copyright of its original author
   
   Instead of choking the Ranth-Panna corridor with lions, we must nurture it. (Re)Populating the intermediate forests of Kuno & Madhav with tigers would result in revival of that landscape. 
   .
2. Also there are already 2-4 male tigers like T-38 (& possibly T-77) settled in Kuno due to its inviolate habitat & good preybase.
   The lions to be relocated, are not going to be veteran pride males of war-zone Gir, who may be able to compensate the size disadvantage by sheer experience. How well do you think inexperienced youngsters would be able to defend themselves against larger tigers in their prime, that have known the area for years?
   Just imagine the blow the future prospects of lion translocation would suffer if a released one is killed!
   
   Why not just give the poor lads a few mates from sonewhere in MP? The whole metapopulation will be saved from inbreeding themselves to abomination!
   

---

Right now the most practical solution of the lion problem are:

1. Hope that this census confirms tiger presence in Dangs. That might open up options for a tiger-lion exchange between the two states.
   .
2. Combine Shukla's & @Wolverine's ideas for now. Instead of the unnecessary eyewashes of Barda & Safari Parks, let as many healthy lions as possible be properly spread to all former habitats available within Gujarat, most are located where Greater-Gir lions cannot reach naturally.
   Gujaratis shouldn't have much issue with that & unlike Kuno-Palpur (which may recieve a few dozen lions at best) the sites within Gujarat would favour relocation in much larger scale, actually helping solve Gir's population explosion.
   
   Once Gujarat's "lion monopoly" is broken, even they'd be much more amenable to populating the forests near MP & Rajasthan border with lions, from where they may start trickling out to other states naturally. 
   So, while those populations reach carrying capacity, seriously explore the rewilding options elsewhere in MP...like GandhiSagar sanctuary or Khandwa division forests. MP has much more experience than Russia about successfully raising cubs in semi-wild. 
   
   Although those were wild-born orphans, the instinct is strong with captive ones...  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   *This image is copyright of its original author
   
   

I"m categorically against creating a "tiger corridor" in the heart of the formal areal of the Indian lion, as well I'm against creating a "lion corridors" in the jaguar country... ; but now have no time for full answer and we start to repeat ourselves.

In any way what could be said is despite the fact that Barda could not be a full scale second home for the lions for many reasons, the moving of lions to Barda sanctuary for sure is higly WELCOME, this is a good decision. But we need to see a real relocations of people from the sanctuary, even partial. 
It will be interesting to follow any news coming from Barda. Reply