Lion Loss

It is shocking that India, the proud custodian of the world’s last population of Asiatic lions, is witnessing such a high toll of its most iconic predators. Between August 2023 and July 2025, Gujarat has recorded a staggering 307 lion deaths. The numbers ought to rouse strong alarm rather than resignation.

The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) is a conservation success story of sorts. Once ranging across the Middle East and India, their population has dwindled to a single pocket of 891 individuals in the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and surrounding areas, as per the 2025 census. For decades, concerted efforts by the Indian government and local authorities have stabilized their numbers. Yet, the recent mortality figures expose a worrying fault line in the conservation strategy.

The Gujarat government claims to have spent Rs. 37.35 crore over the past two years on mitigating unnatural deaths. This money financed treatment centres, ambulance services, veterinary doctors, radio-collaring of lions and infrastructure such as speed breakers and signboards in forested areas. Furthermore, parapet walls were constructed to cover open wells, and fences installed along railway tracks near the sanctuary. Despite this, the unnatural death toll remains disturbingly high.

Twenty lions plummeted into uncovered wells while nine others drowned in water bodies; five were crushed by trains, and three electrocuted. Road accidents and natural calamities accounted for the rest. These are not acts of fate but consequences of poorly integrated conservation policies and infrastructural neglect.

As human settlements and infrastructure expand relentlessly, wildlife habitats shrink and fragment. Roads, railways, and agricultural development encroach ever closer upon the Gir sanctuary. Yet the measures implemented remain piecemeal, reactive rather than systemic.

More than an issue of policy execution, the problem lies in the lack of a holistic strategy that anticipates human-wildlife conflict rather than merely responding to its aftermath. How many open wells near forest areas remain unprotected? How effective are the forest patrols in ensuring adherence to safety protocols? Is the state doing enough to prevent railway deaths, perhaps by constructing underpasses or overpasses for wildlife?

The Gir lions are a symbol of national pride and tourism draw, yet their safety seems subordinate to local economic or political interests. Conservationists argue for stronger regulation, greater investment in ecological infrastructure and tighter enforcement of existing laws. But those solutions demand long-term vision.

In truth, India’s Asiatic lions occupy a precarious middle ground between preservation and peril. Their numbers may have increased compared to the nadir of the 20th century, but the growing unnatural death toll points to systemic failures. Conservation requires a coherent strategy that addresses habitat connectivity, wildlife crossings and greater public awareness.

Unless Gujarat and the central government recalibrate their approach, the Asiatic lion could continue to edge towards vulnerability. For a species that once roamed the vast plains of Asia, being confined to a shrinking patch of forest only to perish in wells and under trains is a tragic epitaph in the making.