Gir forest officials have caged 10 lions after an 11-year-old boy was mauled to death by a lion in the Dhari range of the forest on Thursday morning. The attack is the third in the forest spread over three districts of the Saurashtra region.
“We have caged 10 lions of the same family from the Dhari range. We will have to conduct a medical test to ascertain which one killed the boy. We will also study their behaviour to know what prompts them to attack humans,” Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) T Karuppasamy told presspersons. “As per our estimate, there are 14-16 animals of the same pride in this range of 18-square kilometres. We will cage the remaining lions too.” However, Mr. Karuppasamy dismissed the view that the lions have turned man-eaters, and said the recent attacks were accidental and isolated. “We are probing all the incidents of attack on humans and will pay compensation to the families of the deceased,” a senior forest department official said.
In March, in two separate incidents, two people were mauled to death by lions in the Dhari range in Amreli district, where 170 lions were counted in the census conducted in 2015.
Meanwhile, the ex-law minister of Gujarat and a BJP leader from Amreli, Dilip Sanghani, has written to the forest department asking it to allow killings of lions if they attack people in and around the forest.
“The attacks on humans by lions, leopards and other wild animals have increased in the villages in and around Gir forest. I would also write to the Union Environment Minister in this regard.”
