Can’t send lions to gun country: IUCN norms

AHMEDABAD: If guidelines of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are anything to go by, Gir's lions can't be translocated to the Kuno-Palpur forest in Madhya Pradesh. One of the world's oldest, largest and respected global environmental networks says before translocation of any wildlife species, the natural habitat and range has to be considered. The guidelines also state the site should have a natural corridor between the original site and the new site.

Most importantly, however, the guidelines say that a thorough assessment of attitudes of local people to the proposed project is necessary to ensure long-term protection of the re-introduced population. This is especially true if the cause of the species' decline was due to human factors, include over-hunting or loss or alteration of habitat.

TOI had in its news report 'Life for Cheetah, death for lion', published on April 20 highlighted that Kuno-Palpur sanctuary is in Sheopur district, a region infamous for the gun cult. Licensed firearms alone are estimated to be 4,800 in a population of six lakh. There was no way of counting the number of illegal firearms, which could well be even higher given that this is the tip of Chambal valley, a favourite hideout of dacoits even today.

In stark contrast, Junagadh district which is home to Gir sanctuary has a population of 27 lakh with just 2,600 licensed firearms. Even the Union ministry of forests and environment had taken note of the gun cult in Sheopur when it was considering reintroducing cheetahs from Africa here.

"The state government should submit the IUCN guidelines in court along with the review petition against the translocation oder," says environmentalist Bharat Jethwa. "You can raise a number of issues against translocation with the help of these guidelines." Forest officials in Gujarat also say that Kuno-Palpur can't be considered a natural habit for the lions as there has been no sighting of lions outside Gir since the late 1880s.

The guidelines further state, "The site should be within the historic range of the species." Officials said that IUCN also states that reintroduction should be undertaken only as a last resort when no opportunities for re-introduction into the original site or range.

Besides, the Supreme Court verdict on translocation states, "Re-introduction of Asiatic lion, needless to say, should be in accordance with the guidelines issued by IUCN and with the active participation of experts in the field of re-introduction of endangered species."

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