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| April 10, 2010 | Lion census at Gir Forest Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajkot | | Rajkot (Gujarat): The forest officials here are all set to conduct a comprehensive and methodological lion census at the Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajkot. A team comprising more than 1600 people, including forest officials, regional officers, zonal officers, enumerators and volunteers, will conduct the census
at the national park from April 23 to 27. Gir Forest National Park and Wildlife
Sanctuary Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sandeep Kumar said, the preparations
for the census are on for the last nine months and the lions are being closely
monitored in their natural habitat. Kumar said that the forest officials are expecting
an increase in the lion population as recorded in the previous census. During
the 2005 census, 359 lions were found in Gir. "If you see the population of the
lions in the last 6-7 census continuously, the trend of the population shows that
there is an increase in every census. This time of course, we are expecting an
increase in the population," said Kumar. "We will know the exact number after
finishing the census. But the resident area of the lions has also seen an increase
in comparison to last 4-5 years where they were staying," he added. Besides the
national forest area, the lions can also be located in the reserve forest area,
protected forest area outside the Gir sanctuary, other wastelands and the villages
in the region. Kumar further said scientific tools of mapping like the Geographical
Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) are being used in
this year's census keeping into account a large area of their habitat. "We are
using the Geographical Information System (GIS) this time extensively for our
preparation purposes. We are also using the Global Positioning System (GPS) to
know their exact location, said Kumar. "On that basis, we can say what is the
composition of land and where they are exactly located during the census period.
We will plot it on the GIS map," he added. The officials also plan to take photographs
of all the lions, lionesses and cubs found, so that they can have photographical
evidence and records of the species. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is expected
to announce the census on May 1, when the state celebrates its foundation day.
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