RAJKOT: Residents of Arab Timbdi village of Rajkot’s Jetpur taluka woke up to the deafening roars of lions and shrieking of hapless cattle on Monday night when a pride of 10 lions attacked a gau shala located on the fringes of the hamlet.
The pride unleashed complete bedlam in the tiny village as they killed at least eight cows within just a few minutes. The lions dragged away two cows and feasted on them while injury marks of claws were found on the bodies of other six cows.
The lions remained in the gau shala for nearly 30 minutes and later strayed back into the forest area of the adjoining Junagadh district. Sources said there were nearly 80 cows in the gau shala.
Though the village falls in Rajkot district’s Jetpur taluka, it is located very close to Junagadh.
Ravi Prasad Radhakrishna, deputy conservator of forest, Rajkot circle said “This area is in the close proximity of Junagadh and a group of lions launched a sudden attack. There was complete commotion and fear.”
The cattle shed is located on the fringes of Arab Timbdi but lions have been often seen venturing into the village and preying on domestic cattle on the streets.
This pride, officials said, did not include the three other lions which have been spotted frequently in Jetpur and villages of Thana Galor, Amrapar, Reshmdi Galor, Rupavati, Dedarva, Devki Galor, Aarab Timbdi and Bordi Samadhiyala.
“We are constantly tracking those three lions and get regular updates about their movements. But we had no alert about this big pride,” said Radhakrishna.
A month ago, sarpanches of these villagers had submitted a memorandum to the mamlatdar a month ago, demanding that the lions be shifted out of these areas. They had also expressed apprehensions about lion attacks when they went to their farms in the night.
Lion movements in the border villages of Jetpur have been reported for the past few months. The villagers also report about the remains of lion prey to the forest department on a daily basis.
Jetpur MLA and cabinet minister Jayesh Radadia had also shot off a letter to the forest department against the lion’s ‘menace’ but officials say that they can only track the movement and can’t move them from one place to another place. The department has already started awareness programs in the villages of Rajkot district to educate people about lion behaviour to reduce any conflict.