Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, June 27

The worst fear of the Gujarat forest department officials of a possible large-scale destruction of the Asiatic Lions in the heavy rain and floods in Amreli district seems to be coming true.

An official spokesman of the state forest department confirmed this evening the death of at least eight lions, including four lionesses and a female cub, in the floods. The carcasses of the eight animals were recovered from the banks of the flooded Shetrunji river in Bhavnagar district.

Officials believe that these animals were among the 40 odd big cats the department said were “missing” from the Krakach range of the Gir forest in Amreli, which experienced a record 400 mm rainfall in less than a day on Tuesday, causing havoc in the district.

The forest department has constituted seven teams to look for the “missing lions”. The official spokesman said so far they had not been able to spot any of the big cats alive but hoped apart from the eight lions found dead, others were still safe.

The recovery of one lioness from a temple in Ingorala village in Lilliya taluka in Amreli has given rise to the hope that the forest department's efforts to lure the lions to the higher planes had paid off.

Besides the bodies of eight lions, the forest department has also recovered carcasses of some 1,000 other animals, including about 150 giant blue bulls, killed in the floods.

The forest department estimated that the total loss of wild animals in the floods in Amreli district alone would be about 8,000. The state government has declared an assistance of Rs 21 crore for the Saurashtra region.