Asiatic lions

GS PAPER II: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Context: Eight Asiatic lions at Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park have tested positive for the deadly coronavirus, perhaps the first known case of the human infecting the felines and making them sick in India.

More about news:

• Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology- Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (CCMB-LaCONES) informed the forest authorities over the phone that the RT-PCR tests of these big cats were positive.
• The CCMB carried out detailed investigation of the samples for genome sequencing to find out if the strain came from human beings or not.
• The scientist cautioned the officials to take precautions and start medication at the earliest.
• The zoo authorities are likely to conduct a CT scan of the lions to know the impact of the infection on their lungs.
• Based on experience with zoo animals elsewhere in the world that have experienced SARS-COV2 positive last year, there is no factual evidence that animals can transmit the disease to humans any further.

Nehru Zoological Park

• It is located in Hyderabad.
• It is one of the biggest zoos in Asia.

About Asiatic lions

• Habitat: They are confined to Gir National Park and its surrounding environs in Gujarat’s Saurashtra.
• Five protected areas currently exist to protect the Asiatic lion: Gir Sanctuary, Gir National Park, Pania Sanctuary, Mitiyala Sanctuary, and Girnar Sanctuary.
•  In the surrounding sanctuary only Maldharis have the right to take their livestock for grazing.
• Population: As per the  14th Asiatic Lion Census 2005, the lion population was estimated at 523 individuals. In August 2017, surveyors counted 650 wild lions. The 15th Asiatic Lion Census could not be conducted in 2020, as scheduled, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, an estimation exercise counted 674 Asiatic lions in the Gir forest region, an increase of 29 per cent over the 2015 census figure.
• Threats: The Asiatic lion currently exists as a single subpopulation, and is thus vulnerable to extinction from unpredictable events, such as an epidemic or large forest fire. There are indications of poaching incidents in recent years. There have also been a number of drowning incidents after lions fell into wells.
• Nearly 85 lions in the vicinity of Gir Forest were found dead in October 2018, they had died because of canine distemper virus, the same virus that had killed several Serengeti lions earlier.
• The Asiatic lion is confined only to the Gir protected area and its surrounding environs and thus faces the additional threat of genetic homogeneity, which makes the species susceptible to diseases. “It is thus in the interest of long term Asiatic lion conservation that the species be reintroduced to other places in and outside Gujarat
• Expert suggestions: Experts have called for the reintroduced of the species outside Gujarat for the long term conversation of the Asiatics lions. Kuno Palpur Sanctuary in MP is being considered by the ministry for reintroduction of lions.
• Conservation status: It is categorised as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/eight-asiatic-lions-test-positive-for-coronavirus-in-hyderabad-zoo/article34480453.ece