Rajkot: A lion killed a five-year-old boy, the son of a migrant farm labourer, at Thordi village in Savarkundla taluka of Amreli district on Wednesday afternoon. The forest department recovered the boy’s half-eaten remains after a four-hour search operation. The victim was identified as Gulsing Harilal Ajnera. Forest officials said Gulsing was playing near some bushes at about 2.30pm when the others family members were resting in a nearby hut. The lion attacked, grabbed Gulsing and dragged him into a densely forested area. On the child’s screams, the family and other villagers rushed to the scene and alerted the authorities. Forest officials confirmed the presence of a lion through pugmark evidence and launched a search operation. “The entire area is dense forest and a designated wildlife zone, which made the search challenging. It took about four hours,” a forest officer said. Teams from the Gir East and Shetrunji forest divisions conducted a joint operation to find the body and capture the lion. The remains were found with approximately 60% of the body eaten. Pratap Chandu, the Savarkundla range forest officer, said, “We have captured the lion suspected to be behind the attack. Scat analysis will determine if it had eaten human flesh. This area is part of the lion’s natural habitat. The family are migrant workers and had arrived here recently. Migrant workers are often unaware of the dangers posed by wildlife here. Farmers who hire these workers must inform them about the presence of lions and caution them accordingly. Unfortunately, they are often not warned, leading to incidents like this.” Officials added that this period marks both the farming season and the lions’ mating season, during which the animals tend to be more aggressive. They urged people in and around forest areas to remain vigilant and take the necessary precautions.
