27-08-2008
Lion kills child, officials call it case of mistaken identity
Times of India
Amreli: Did a lion prey on a kid mistaking it to be a goat? At least this is what forest officials of Gir believe after catching a lion who had killed an eight-year-old boy in a village of Amreli district. The eight-year-old lion preyed on the boy, Himmat Parmar, who was sleeping on the porch outside his hut in Munjiasar village of Khamba taluka in the Gir (east) forest range in the wee hours of Monday.
Sukha Parmar could only watch helplessly as the beast took away his son. Himmat's body parts were found nearly one km from his house.
When contacted, district forest officer Jayant Solanki claimed that this was the first time in Gir that a lion has directly attacked a human. "We also found in our inquiry that the lion might have mistaken the boy for goat due to the body odour of the boy. The boy had spent nearly 18 hours with goats," said Solanki.
The lion was caught from a field on the outskirts of Tracuda village early on Tuesday morning. It has been sent to Jasadhar range veterinary house for treatment and will be kept under observation for a few days.
It is a common knowledge in these areas that lions generally stay away from the human body odour and rarely attack humans. Attacks as and when reported have happened mostly due to animals' fear rather than the intention to kill.
"This lion killed a boy, but it is not a man-eater because it is not in the nature of the lion to kill people," said Solanki.
1 comment:
It is true that Gir lions have been living in harmony with humans. However, one should not forget that they are top carnivores living in wild and there have been few incidents of lion killing humans in past.
- Bhushan Pandya
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