IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Paulson, M. | |
| Pride in place: reintroduction of Asiatic lions in Gir Forest, India | |
| 1999 Restoration and Reclamation Review (4): 1-5 | |
Asiatic lions (_Panthera leo persica_) once ranged from Syria through India and Iran to as far west as Greece until the middle of the 19th century, when firearms became universally widespread (Joslin 1985). Hunting and habitat loss have since compromised the species' populations to the extent that by the turn of the century they were found only in a relatively small portion of western India. The population descended to its lowest number in 1893 with 18 remaining individuals (Saberwal et al. 1994). Protection efforts have since raised that number from 177 in 1968 (Joslin 1985) to 284 in 1994 (Chellam and Johnsingh 1994). Asiatic lions now dwell almost exclusively in the Gir forest of northwestern India, located in the Junagadh district of Saurashtra, Gujarat State (Saberwal et al. 1994). The Gir forest has been reduced to almost one- third its original size and now covers about 1400 square kilometers of semiarid country. Contained within the Gir forest are the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary (established in 1965), and Gir National Park (established in 1975), which together make up the Gir Protected Area or "PA". The area is of high conservation value as the last remaining example of native landscape within the Saurashtra peninsula (Chellam and Johnsingh 1994). |
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