Two forest guards encircled by 13 Asiatic lions for three hours

3-1-2008

Two forest guards encircled by 13 Asiatic lions for three hours

Divya Bhasker (Briefly Translated from Gujarati)

Chilly winds…Dark jungle… 13 lions before eyes… It is even hard to imagine such a scary scene. But it happened in real life of two brave forest guards in Girnar Protected forest near Junagadh.

A. I. Kathi and Rajubhai are forest guards placed at Thana round of Patwad range of North Junagadh. As per their daily routine they were patrolling the forest on a circular route in their region on motor-bike. On way back suddenly they confronted 13 grown lions near Suraj Kund. Pride was on a kill of Sabar. Disturbing wild cats on kill is like inviting death. Guards could not even show their back to lions as it is also risky. The only weapon they had was a wooden stick.

One of frightened guard suddenly remembered he had his mobile phone. And to their luck they were in network coverage. He immediately phoned RFO (North Dungar Range) S K Jadeja and explained the whole situation. Shortly RFO arrived in his jeep and the pride cleared the way. Finally rescued guards thanked God.

Together Lets Save Gir and Asiatic Lion

Update provided by:

Kishore Kotecha

Wildlife Conservation Trust

Rajkot – Gujarat – India

Ph: +91 98240 62062, Email: info@asiaticlion.org

Web: www.asiaticlion.org, News Blog: http://asiatic-lion.blogspot.com