Rajkot: In Saurashtra villages, especially in Amreli, Junagadh and Bhavnagar, lions entering, hunting domestic animals and feeding them leisurely on the streets are becoming a common sight.
Social media has been flooded with such incidents being caught on CCTV. Just last week, three lions entered Khicha Village of Dhari taluka of Amreli district and hunted seven cows. Two lions entered Bhund village in Khambha taluka of the same district in search of prey.
While there have been no clashes between lions and humans in the villages, the forest department has often been demanding compensation for cattle killed by wild animals. Since 2108-19, the department has paid Rs 8.52 crore as compensation to owners of milch cattle, with experts once again highlighting the dire need for housing management of lions.
Like lions, leopards are also regularly slaughtered in villages, with bonded animals such as cows and buffaloes both easy targets for feral cats. Incidents have also been reported from Surendranagar, Morbi and Porbandari According to forest department data
while the owner of expensive fall Cows and Jafrabadi buffaloes demand compensation, the paperwork they have to do is disappointing. The state government has increased the maximum compensation for a cow and buffalo from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000, while the minimum price for a milch cow or Jafrabadi buffalo has been increased from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
The department evaluates the age and productivity of the animal on the basis of the postmortem report to evaluate the compensation.
In fact, some owners do not even claim the money if the amount is Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 as they do not want to engage in time-consuming paperwork.
State Wildlife Board member Priyavrat Gadhvi said, “Habitat management is a big challenge for the forest department and they have been working for the past several years to find new homes for the lions.”
Another board member Bhushan Pandya, who had earlier demanded an increase in compensation, said, “Livestock is an asset to poor villages and the only source of livelihood for many. If wild animals continue to kill them, it is possible that they may start attacking lions, which is not the case at present.”
Social media has been flooded with such incidents being caught on CCTV. Just last week, three lions entered Khicha Village of Dhari taluka of Amreli district and hunted seven cows. Two lions entered Bhund village in Khambha taluka of the same district in search of prey.
While there have been no clashes between lions and humans in the villages, the forest department has often been demanding compensation for cattle killed by wild animals. Since 2108-19, the department has paid Rs 8.52 crore as compensation to owners of milch cattle, with experts once again highlighting the dire need for housing management of lions.
Like lions, leopards are also regularly slaughtered in villages, with bonded animals such as cows and buffaloes both easy targets for feral cats. Incidents have also been reported from Surendranagar, Morbi and Porbandari According to forest department data
while the owner of expensive fall Cows and Jafrabadi buffaloes demand compensation, the paperwork they have to do is disappointing. The state government has increased the maximum compensation for a cow and buffalo from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000, while the minimum price for a milch cow or Jafrabadi buffalo has been increased from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
The department evaluates the age and productivity of the animal on the basis of the postmortem report to evaluate the compensation.
In fact, some owners do not even claim the money if the amount is Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 as they do not want to engage in time-consuming paperwork.
State Wildlife Board member Priyavrat Gadhvi said, “Habitat management is a big challenge for the forest department and they have been working for the past several years to find new homes for the lions.”
Another board member Bhushan Pandya, who had earlier demanded an increase in compensation, said, “Livestock is an asset to poor villages and the only source of livelihood for many. If wild animals continue to kill them, it is possible that they may start attacking lions, which is not the case at present.”