674 lions in Gujarat, official count reveals

AHMEDABAD: The state government on Wednesday officially declared the Poonam Avlokan lion count — it has been estimated that there are at least 674 lions in the state. The lion population is up by 29% since the last count. The count thus puts to rest the speculation that the lion population has been reduced when compared to 2015 numbers.
TOI had on Wednesday reported: “Gujarat now home to 674 lions, 29% growth in population.” The official data released on Wednesday showed that the adult lion population had increased by nearly 46% as compared to 2015 figures. The number of lionesses had increased by 30% over the past five years. The adult lion population is now 159 while the female adult lion population is 262. This numbers were 109 and 201 respectively.

Rajiv Gupta, the additional chief secretary, forests and environment, confirmed that the lion count was 674 and had grown by 29%. He said that the rise in population has been mainly due to effective conservation and management efforts by the state government with support from the Centre. The forest department had been able to successfully curb the CDV outbreak in 2018, he said.
The population of sub-adult lions has increased by nearly 58%. Among the 115 sub-adults counted there were 45 males, 49 females, and 21 were unidentified. Meanwhile, the official data revealed that the distribution of lions has increased from an area of 22,000 sq km in 2015 to 30,000 sq km in 2020, a rise of 36%.
Officials said they are placing each sighting location on a map and are preparing a detailed report along with the count in each taluka. These details will help the forest department identify problem areas. The department has been doing a count on Poonam and this data is studied by the local deputy conservator of forests every month. The information also helps officials analyze the movement of lions and keep track of deaths.
Officials said that the 15th Asiatic Lion Population Estimation was scheduled this year but owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not conducted as planned in May. Instead, the department decided to adopt the Poonam Avlokan (moonlight observation) method which has been used by the forest department regularly.