The Gujarat government has proposed a second home for Asiatic lions in Gujarat at Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, about 100 km away their present home at Gir National Park. The Central government has given in-principle approval to the project.

There has been a long-delayed plan to move some lions from their only and very crowded home in the country. This move will also protect the lion population from diseases.

Barda wildlife sanctuary

Barda Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Gujarat. It is situated approximately 15 kilometres from Porbandar and 100 kilometres west of Gir Forest National Park.

A large part of Barda is covered by thick Acacia Senegal – thickets of Gorad, which does not allow easy penetration of herbivores.

Barda, established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1979, has since been projected as an alternative second home for the lions in Gujarat.

Barda can become alternative home for lions. For this, the government and forest department will have to work towards habitat improvement and also improve the prey base in the region, maybe by introducing Sambar Deers. Also, the Maldhari community will have to be resettled and a proper compensation package will have to be worked out for them.

Who are Maldharis?

“Maldhari” is an occupational term which refers to people from a variety of castes and communities. The literal meaning of Maldhari is keeper (dhari) of the animal stock (mal).

The Maldharis are a herdsmen community in Gujarat. Originally nomads, they came to be known as Maldharis after settling in Junagadh district (mainly Gir Forest). Most Maldhari live in Kutch district. Their populations have increased to around 25,000 with 90 per cent belonging to the Muslim community and 10 per cent to the Hindu community.

Maldharis are descendants of nomads who periodically came from Pakistan, Rajasthan and other parts of Gujarat, and finally settled in the Banni grasslands.

There are number of Nesses (human settlements) in Gir protected areas that are a huge burden on the ecosystem. There are at least 22,000 cattle inside the protected areas, predominantly buffaloes of Maldharis. These cattle are a major competitor to wild herbivores for food resources in Gir. With Maldharis being rehabilitated outside the protected areas, Barda has the potential to become second home for lions.

Project Lion

Prime Minister in his Independence Day Speech on August 15, 2020, announced Project Lion and shared the government’s resolve and commitment to work for the long-term conservation of Asiatic lions in the country.

Asiatic Lions- the pride of Gujarat

The Gujarat forest department estimates that the lion population in the state now would be more than 700, half of which are outside Gir.

Lions are distributed in nine districts of Saurashtra including Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Botad, Porbander, Jamnagar and Surendranagar. They are spread across an area of 30,000 square kilometers which is termed as the Asiatic Lion Landscape.

Search for the second wild home of Gir Asiatic lions

There has been a call for a long time to find second wild home for Gir Asiatic lions. Almost two decades ago, the Centre decided to translocate some lions to build second independent population of Asiatic lions at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that Gujarat needed to relocate some of its lions to neighbouring Madhya Pradesh to avoid the possibility of disease or some other disaster wiping out the entire population. The Gujarat government did not translocate the lions to Kuno in Madhya Pradesh citing concerns of their co-existence with the tiger and the difference in the climatic condition of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

In August 2022, eight cheetahs from Namibia were introduced at Kuno and the park got 12 more from South Africa in February this year.

A report on “Lion@2047: A vision for Amrutkal” , prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India for Gujarat government, has identified Barda as a potential site where a population of 40 adult and sub-adult lions can be accommodated in the larger landscape of Barda-Alech hills and coastal forests.