The wildlife of India has been looked up to with regards to its variety and richness. However, in the last few decades, the population of not just the tigers, but various wild animals has been endangered. one of them is the lions.
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There was some good news between 54.6 per cent jump in the population of a lion outside Gir Sanctuary between 2011 and 2015. However, their fate remains uncertain because the rise in the population is becoming an issue in the existing protected areas as no new protected habitat for lions has been approved in Gujarat since 2008.
The Asiatic lions once dominated the forests right from Morocco to Greece and were spread all across the Middle East to eastern India. The CAG in its report however shows a darker picture. In the report of ¡®economic sector¡¯ of 2018, CAG has said that that wildlife conservation efforts in Gujarat have yielded positive results as indicated by the increase in number of Asiatic lions from 308 in 2011 to 356 in 2015.
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However, despite high number of lion deaths outside Gir sanctuary 106 by natural and 21 unnatural causes, the government did not approve new protected habitat for lions in the last ten years. ¡°The proposal submitted (March 2016) for draft Eco Sensitive Zone notification for Gir Protected Area also reports that the latest census should be taken as a sign of warning as nearly one-third (32 per cent) of lions have their habitat outside the Gir Protected Area, risking human lives, livestock as well as the safety of the lions themselves,¡± the report said.
Highlighting the 2005 proposal of creating a safe corridor for lions moving out of the Gir protected areas, the national auditor stated that the government has been reducing the proposed land for the protected area from 30,152.32 hectares to just 4,811.51 hectares.
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The Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Junagadh, had proposed in November 2005 to declare 30152.32 hectares of villages of Palitana, Mahuva, Talaja, Khamba and Savarkundla talukas of Bhavnagar and Amreli districts as Sir Dharam Kumar Singhji Wildlife Sanctuary to provide a safe corridor for lions moving out of the Gir protected areas. A revised proposal for reduced area of 11,155.18 hectare was submitted in June 2007 which was further reduced in October 2010 to 10,953 hectare.
Later in November 2010 the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) was informed that the proposal of declaring the CR was under consideration and further directed to initiate the procedure of transferring 4,811.51 hectares of government wasteland of Amreli district in favour of the forest department. In Gujarat, the total area of 28 Protected Areas that includes wildlife sanctuary, national park and conservation reserves is 17,099.93 square kilometre. Out of this only 4,640.58 square kilometre is forest land, the remaining is non-forest ecosystems.