Several central government projects were proposed to expand the saturated lion population in Gir forests and the idea to reintroduce cheetah in central India, mooted a decade back, still remains on paper.

“The real lion’s day will be the translocation of lions to Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary to establish a second free-ranging population to enhance their long-term conservation status. The Supreme Court of India in 2013 ordered the translocation of lions to Kuno, but the order is yet to be implemented in letter and spirit,” said Dr Ravi Chellam, CEO, Metastring Foundation, who is an expert on Asiatic lions. Starting from elephants to small microorganisms, their habitats are under threat facing destruction, degradation and fragmentation thereby also destroying corridors and impacting connectivity.

“Just celebrating the number of lions and tigers will not suffice the concept of conservation,” he noted, demanding a more scientific census audit by non-government authorities and independent scientists.Pointing out that the current population of Asiatic lions and elephants are under severe stress due to ‘developmental activities’ in protected national parks, Chellam said that more than 50 per cent of lion population are now found outside the protected forests.

“On Monday, we celebrated Lion’s day and again on Wednesday, wildlife enthusiasts will observe Elephant day. But these large animals are facing biotic pressure and habitat loss from corporate companies,” said conservation scientist A Kumaraguru of Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Tiruchy. He added that the Centre has been talking about the relocation of lions for more than a decade and for political reasons it is being delayed.

When contacted, a senior official attached to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, he said that the matter was cleared by the courts and said scientists are still working on the technical modalities for reintroduction of cheetahs and relocation of lions.