Asiatic Lion Reintroduction Project

[Matias]

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By reading a part of this topic, there are many questions about certain reintroduction / relocation practices. Let me tell you about a fact:

It is very important to know the conservation history of the lions in the Gir reserve. From the previous protection situation imposed by the father Nawab and his son in the early twentieth century, to the whole situation after this official protection. The Maldharis people have 100 years of coexistence after this protection. It is a long history filled with positive and negative facts of living with these lions to this day, whose tolerance, respect and willingness to share space and livelihood with them, has many aspects to be salutary. The Maldharis raise cattle to live on their dairy products, they do not feed on meat. The enormous time of coexistence has already established criteria of symbiosis between humans / lions. It is a long story that everyone in this forum should study. And after all this process is easy to understand why? That the people of Gujarat do not want to share "their" lions with anyone else. It is a very important tourist recipe fruit of much sacrifice to the present day in which the lions are seen as a natural heritage of Gujarat. "No one protected them but us from Gujarat." Today lions are scattered about 2 million hectares beyond the protected area, live to wander in areas "without formal conservation status" rich in wildlife and death of people by lions occur at a rate of 1 to 3 per year, Where in most cases, lions are not victims of retaliation. It's not the lions fault. The behavior of the people before the lions find no parameter anywhere in the world. The great majority of the people of Gujarat have taken on the responsibility of living and sheltering all these lions.

As for the conservation criteria, I have no doubt that for lions, living only in this area is a danger to their conservation.

As for the reintroduction of the lions in North Africa, I remember two projects in Morocco, in a properly fenced area. Project headed by Professor Nobuyuki Yamaguchi, abandoned for lack of funds and solid environmental criteria.

Any reintroduction program for lions, whether in Turkey, Iran or Iraq, will take place in a properly fenced area. Looking primarily to build a suitable habitat, to establish a group of lions in that area. And this is how it is done ... how to establish and manage a metapopulation of lions ... There are so many problems that we should focus on protecting the lions where today they are strongly threatened, such as: The WAP complex (Niger, Burkina Faso And Benin), Niokolo Koba (Senegal) and Kaiji Lake (Nigeria) which are the only places where lions still live in West Africa. Or the lions living in Cameroon in a contiguous population (Faro, Benoué and Bouba Ndjida), the last lions living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The unknown situation of lions in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Concentrating efforts where they are still is the greatest conservation drive !?

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