Sanctuary

Chief Conservator

One more lion cub was found dead in Girgadhda on Wednesday from a farm in Fareda village, which falls outside the protected GirThe farm is located about 500 m from the sanctuary boundary. Officials collected the samples and sent them to various laboratories as part of the investigation.With the latest death the death toll of Gir lions since September 12 stands at 28. The death of lion cub comes after eight days of three cubs meeting a similar fate.of Forest D T Vasavada said, “The cub’s body was found from a private farm in Fareda village of Girgadhra taluka. The death is due to respiratory and cardiac failure caused by severe anaemia and dehydration. It is symptomatic of heavy tick infection.Samples have been collected as per standard operating procedure and sent to labs for testing.”The dead cub, believed to be of about 5 months of age, found dead in Jilubhai Panchabhai Goel’s farm which is surrounded by open grassland. The farm is about 500 meters from the sanctuary area. Department officials said panel post mortem was conducted by two doctors, an Assistant Conservator of Forest (Jamvada) and Range Forest Officer (Babariya).Fareda is about 60 km from Dalkhaniya range where 23 lions were found dead between 12 September and October 2. According to reports released later by officials, most of the deaths were caused by Canine Distemper Virus (CDV).Since then samples have been collected from lions in the wild to detect the spread of deadly virus.