Foresters puzzled over lion killing man

21-01-2009
Foresters puzzled over lion killing man
Times of India

Gir(Junagadh) : The incident of Mukesh Parmar being killed by a pride of lions in Barda-Viridi range of Gir on January 16 has foresters wondering. After all such incidents of killing by a lion have not been witnessed in the recent past by them. "A few cases of lion killing human beings have been recorded, but not in the recent past", said Amit Kumar, district forest officer.

A male, four females and four cubs were gamboling in a 200 sq m area when the victim, a youth from nearby Mangrol village accompanied by three friends, started taking snap shots from his cell phone. The male was mating with a lioness when Parmar got within five feet distance while taking snapshots. The lion pounced on him, caught his left leg and bit off the lion dragged Parmar deep into the forest and killed him, feasting on his body.

Whatever was left of the body was recovered by forest department after two hours. "It is the tendency of any carnivore to either attack or flee. In this case the lion chose to attack sensing danger in close proximity", said Kumar.