Two more lions fall into a parapet-less well in Gir

08-11-2008

Two more lions fall into a parapet-less well in Gir

Indian express By Sibte Husain Bukhari

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/two-more-lions-fall-into-a-parapetless-well-in-gir/382833/

 

Junagadh, November 7 Two subadult lions, aged about three years, died after falling into a parapet-less well on the outskirts of Mitiyala village near Mitiyala sanctuary under the Gir East forest division. Their carcasses were fished out on Friday.

 

Premji Delwadiya, owner of the agriculture land, spotted the carcasses floating in his well in the morning and informed the forest officials. Foresters rushed to the spot and pulled out the carcasses and sent them to the Jashadhar Animal Care Centre for postmortem.

 

Maneshwar Raja, Deputy Conservator of Forest (Gir East), said, "The lions died due to drowning. The postmortem report confirmed this." According to Raja, the well was 40 feet deep with a water level of 15 feet. He said the big cats might have fallen in the well at least 24 hours before the incident came to light. He ruled out any possibility of foul play as all the claws and bones were found intact.

 

"Even as the state government is providing a subsidy of Rs 4,000 to cover the wells surrounding the Gir forest, farmers do not seem to be interested in this, creating a trouble for the wildlife," Raja said.

 

The Gir East forest division has been given a target of 4,000 wells to be covered with lid during the current financial year. "Till date, we have covered around 1,500 wells," he said.