500 Artificial Ponds to be filled for thirsty Lions

Junagadh district has received only 10 per cent of the rain it normally gets, forcing the forest department to put in place its contingency plan to ensure that lions’ thirst is quenched.

The forest department has to keep replenishing more than 500 artificial waterholes in the Gir National Park and its periphery. However, the department is worried because there are no such arrangements for lion zones in Amreli, Bhavnagar and coastal areas.

Foresters said that due to deficient rainfall this year, water levels in rivers, ponds, and wells are plunging. The Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan Gir, is the only abode of the Asiatic lions- their current population is 411. Other animals in the sanctuary include Leopards, Spotted Deer, Nilgais, Wild Boars, and thousands of bird species and various reptiles.

In the normal course, forest authorities stop filling the artificial waterholes in and around Gir by June 15 every year- unless it is required in summer. But nearly after a decade, the authorities are being forced to fill these ponds in August. The water holes are filled twice a day.

Chief Conservator of forests R.L. Meena said that the main worry is that the waterholes filled using wind and solar power will be rendered useless because the water level is falling drastically. The department may have to provide supply to these waterholes too. “A water tanker of the forest department is making eight to ten trips a day,” he said.

Senior officials said that with natural water getting exhausted, the forest department will have to get water from distant places. The department may have to call in more tankers to meet the demand. 

The water situation deteriorated when seven rivers – Hiran, Saraswati, Machhundri, Ghodavdi, and Raval- passing through the sanctuary started drying up.

Principal secretary S.K. Nanda had visited the sanctuary earlier this month to assess the situation.

Lions drive leopards away from their kills

The king of the jungle turned plunderer. Lions of the Gir chase leopards away from their kills. A recent incident bore testimony to this phenomenon. A lioness browbeat a leopard away from its kills of a chital and feasted on it along with her three cubs in Dedakdi area.

In this incident reported earlier this week, the lioness got attracted to the kill much after the leopard killed chital and started eating it. A beat guard who witnessed this incident said that as the smell of the flesh wafted, it drew the lioness and her cubs. Seeing the lioness approach, the leopard beat a retreat and climbed up a near by hill.

“The lioness and the club finished off the kill within a half-an-hour and left the area. The leopard kept staring at the remains, said Sandep Kumar, deputy conservator of Forest, Sasan.

Kumar said this was not an isolated incident. “About 25-30 per cent of the kill by leopard was snatched away by the lions. A detail study about the food habits of the lions has revealed that there were more incidents of this kind this year compared to the past,” he said.

Such incidents occur usually when lioness are roaming with their cubs in search of food. Those lions that are not in pride and are leading isolated lives also resort to such practice.

Leopards who lead solitary life easily fall prey to lions’ plundering. However, there have been also instances of role reversal when leopards tried to steal lions’ prey. But these attempts usually result in calamity recently; a leopard was killed by a pride of lions when it tried to steal their kill.

Foresters claim that there have also been some rarest of the rare instances where leopards have been successful in driving the lions away from their kills. Leopards generally target hyenas to snatch away their kills, said the forest officials.