TRANSLOCATION OF LION - ENVIRONMENT
News:
Cheetahs in, govt to re-examine plan to shift Gir lions to Kuno
What's in the news?
● The
Government has decided to re-examine the longstanding plan of translocating a
few Asiatic lions from Gir National Park in Gujarat to Kuno National Park in
Madhya Pradesh and file an “appropriate application” before the Supreme Court
that set a six-month deadline in April 2013 for shifting the lions.
Key takeaways:
● The
Centre’s draft 25-year roadmap for Project Lion has no provision for any
translocation outside Gujarat.
● Instead,
the focus is on “assisted natural dispersal across Saurashtra” by the time
India celebrates 100 years of Independence in 2047.
Project Lion:
Aim:
● Landscape management
with associated species will be done through veterinary care and advanced
world-class research.
● The
project will also be addressing the Human-Wildlife conflict which will involve
local communities living in the vicinity.
Implementation: The Wildlife Institute of
India, along with the Gujarat Forest Department and Minister of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change.
Why Relocation?
● Asiatic
Lions have been confined only to Gir National Park and its surrounding
environments in Gujarat’s Saurashtra.
● The
population in Gir has low genetic diversity, making it vulnerable to threats of
extension from epidemics.
● Lions
are found in Gujarat across an area of 30,000 sq km called the Asiatic Lion Landscape (ALL).
● Besides,
the 2013 Supreme Court order directed Gujarat to relocate lions to the Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary.
New sites:
Six new sites apart from the Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary have been
identified under Project Lion.
1. Madhav
National Park, Madhya Pradesh.
2. Sitamata
Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan.
3. Mukundra
Hills Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan.
4. Gandhi
Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh.
5. Kumbhalgarh
Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan.
6. Jessore-Balaram
Ambaji WLS and adjoining landscape, Gujarat.