Ahmedabad: A total of 322 Asiatic lions, including 166 adults and 156 cubs, have died in Gujarat over the past two years, with 64 of these deaths attributed to unnatural causes, the state govt informed the assembly on Friday.Replying to a question by Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar during Question Hour, forest minister Arjun Modhwadia said that 313 lions died between Jan 1, 2024, and Dec 31, 2025, and another nine deaths were reported in Jan this year.“A total of 165 lions died in 2024 and another 148 in 2025,” the minister stated in his written reply. As per the 2025 lion census, Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding areas are home to 891 Asiatic lions — comprising 255 lions, 405 lionesses and 231 cubs.Of the 322 deaths recorded over 25 months, 64 were due to unnatural causes. The breakup showed that 17 adult lions, 24 adult lionesses, 22 cubs and one unidentified lion died due to unnatural reasons. A total of 286 lions had died in 2023 and 2024.The minister said the govt has taken several measures to curb unnatural deaths and strengthen conservation efforts. These include setting up treatment centres for wild animals at various locations, appointing veterinary doctors and introducing an ambulance service to ensure timely medical intervention.Additional steps cited in the reply included installing speed-breakers and signboards on roads passing through sanctuary areas, conducting regular foot patrolling in forests, constructing parapet walls around open wells near forest areas, and erecting fences along railway tracks near the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.Modhwadia also informed the House that radio-collaring of Asiatic lions was undertaken and a high-tech monitoring unit has been established at Sasan. Quarantine facilities have been set up at Sakkarbaug Zoo and at Saat Virda in the Barda region.A senior forest officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that with an official population of 891, annual deaths of around 135 lions translate to roughly 15% of the population, a level considered acceptable among big cats. However, in Gujarat, the mortality rate works out to about 17% to 18%, he said, adding that the actual population could be higher than the declared figure as the department has traditionally been conservative in its estimates.Another wildlife expert, also declining to be named, said that typically cub mortality tends to be higher than adult mortality among big cats due to factors such as cannibalism and low survival rates in the first three years, which hover around 40%.“However, over the past four years, the number of adult lion deaths has been higher than that of cubs,” the expert said. In 2023-24, of the 286 deaths reported earlier, 143 were adults and 143 were cubs.The expert said the relatively high number of adult deaths warrants closer investigation, suggesting that a disease outbreak could be one possible factor.
