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[Sanju]

Gujarat: Pride too close, prejudice out

State has recorded several instances of people roaring in protest when the magnificent beasts trespass into areas close to human habitations.

The recent expulsion of six lions from Jetpur underscores people’s unease at being in proximity with Gujarat’s pride. The Jetpur lions were ushered back to the Girnar sanctuary after Jayesh Radadiya, the minister of food and civil supply, urged the forest department to act.

“The presence of the lions spurred fear in people and they requested me to have the big cats shifted,” Radadiya said. “Hence I wrote to the department.”

Gujarat has recorded several instances of people roaring in protest when the magnificent beasts trespass into areas close to human habitations. In November 2019, a group of lions sauntered into Chotila taluka in Surendranagar. The local villagers vociferously demanded that the lions be removed. Similar demands from the people of a village near Veraval in Gir-Somnath district in mid-October fizzled out. The people wanted the lions in their area to be shunted out. But when the forest department sought a formal representation from the panchayat, nobody wanted to bell the cat.

As for the Jetpur case, a senior officer said that the action was initiated after the minister’s letter was received. “To move the pride, it was radio collared. The lions’ movement indicates that they are about to reach the Girnar sanctuary,” the officer said. “We guided their movement back home using their location. The beat guards ensured that their travel was in the right direction.”

A senior researcher, associated with various studies in Gir, said: “I have noticed that people in Saurashtra are now opposing the presence of lions in their area.” The researcher went on to say: “They fear that the lions can kill their cattle and even attack humans. Only those who earn money by illegal tourism want lions in their vicinity.”

The researcher cited a study titled ‘Evaluation of human attitudes and factors conducive to promoting human-lion coexistence in the Greater Gir landscape, India’. He said the study has pointed out that 18.9% of people in the Greater Gir landscape did not want lions in their vicinity. The landscape extends across Amreli, Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, and Bhavnagar districts. The study has stated that “…older respondents showed a distinct indifference to lions and were particularly negative towards them if they had suffered livestock loss.” But, the study said: “Younger respondents expressed more positive attitudes and were also better informed about the movements of lions and human-wildlife conflict issues.”

Unless lions give monetary gains to the villagers the chorus of hate will grow louder, a forest department officer said.

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