25 Asiatic lions tagged with radio collars in Gir area

RAJKOT: The forest department has placed radio collars on at least 25 Asiatic lions in Gir and Greater Gir forest area in the past 10 days.
The department has decided to put radio collar on lions in five districts - Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Botad.
“This will help department in monitoring of group’s movement, research and the higher officials will know the territory of the animals,” chief conservator of forest (wildlife circle) DT Vasavda said.
Forest department officials put a radio collar on an Asiatic lion.
Senior officials will be able to monitor the movement of lions through a high-tech monitoring unit developed in Sasan, the home of Asiatic lions in Junagadh district.
According to the forest officials, a total of 75 radio callars have been imported from Germany specially for this project.
The decision to tag the lions has been taken to monitor their movements in areas where they are in regular contact with humans.
This will also curb the illegal lion shows and help forest department to locate the animal and provide timely treatment when a lion is sick.