DNA Edit: Silence of the lions – The Gir crisis must be handled on a war footing

The death of 23 Asiatic lions in Gir in the last 20 days have forced the Supreme Court and the Gujarat High Court to take notice and finally prompted the Gujarat forest department to identify the real cause of the deaths. Earlier, the department had attributed most of the deaths to infighting among the male lions. Forest officials are now claiming that a deadly combination of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) and Protozoal infection is responsible for the death of at least 11 of 23 lions in the Gir sanctuary. Canine distemper is a contagious and serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of puppies and dogs. 

The virus can also be found in wildlife such as foxes, wolves, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, mink and ferrets and has been reported in lions, tigers, leopards and other wild cats as well as seals. It can be contracted through airborne exposure as well as through shared food and water bowls. The canine distemper was found to be the reason for the death of about 30 per cent of the lions in Serengeti National Park in 1994. 

However, it was heartening to know that the government has dropped the hare-brained scheme of relocating the wild cats to a safe place. CDV is now emerging as a pathogen that threatens wild tigers worldwide. Big cats in captivity have also fallen prey to CDV. The gravity of the crisis is hard to miss. Gir National Park and Sanctuary, located in the Saurashtra peninsula, is the last abode of the Asiatic lion. And if the lions in Gir are wiped out because of this epidemic, it will be an immeasurable blow to not only India’s but the world’s wildlife diversity.