Ahmedabad: Already vulnerable to deadly infections, lions in the Greater Gir landscape are now facing a fresh, alarming threat: rabies. Two rabies-linked lion deaths in four months, one confirmed in June and another reported in Oct, have raised concerns about disease surveillance in the last stronghold of the Asiatic lion.The latest case involved a lioness that attacked five people in Amreli before dying within 20 hours of being rescued. The victims were initially taken to a primary healthcare centre, but it lacked anti-rabies vaccines. All five were then administered the vaccine at a private hospital as part of standard protocol. They are under observation, sources said.The rabies-linked lion death comes even as Gujarat govt has issued fresh directives to aggressively implement Gujarat Rabies Control Regulations, 2023, amid gaps in dog-bite data and rabies surveillance. District and municipal authorities have been asked to document dog-bite cases, immediately report anti-rabies vaccine shortages and strengthen treatment protocols to meet the goal of ‘Zero human rabies deaths by 2030’.Regarding the latest case, while several senior forest officials told TOI that the animal had died of rabies, principal chief conservator of forests Jaipal Singh maintained that “laboratory confirmation is still awaited”.Apart from dogs, jackals and mongooses can also carry the rabies virus, creating multiple potential transmission routes in areas where they share space with humans and livestock. “Gujarat is sitting on a ticking time bomb and needs to act. There are hardly any dogs inside the sanctuary, but the situation outside needs attention,” said a lion expert on condition of anonymity.H S Singh, former member of National Board for Wildlife, said rabies was not a new threat to Gir’s lions. Two lion deaths linked to the disease had been documented around 2020, but the latest cases have brought the danger back into focus nearly six years later.The scale of the potential threat is reflected in the large population of feral dogs in districts surrounding Gir, making these human-dominated areas critical for disease surveillance and prevention.According to data Singh obtained from Union govt, Amreli, Junagadh, Gir-Somnath and Bhavnagar districts together have at least 1 lakh feral dogs, significantly outnumbering the approximately 80,000 stray cattle in the region. The wider landscape also supports around 84,460 wild ungulates outside protected forests.Feral dogs can carry both the rabies virus and canine distemper virus (CDV), while ticks associated with cattle can transmit parasites that cause babesiosis, another potentially fatal disease affecting lions.A senior official alleged that the forest department had not been sufficiently transparent about CDV-related lion deaths and feared that rabies cases could “similarly go underreported”.“Recently, the forest department listed all possible reasons for lion deaths but refused to mention CDV or Babesia,” he said.Officials acknowledged that not every lion that dies under suspicious circumstances is tested for rabies. “Even when a lion dies after attacking a human, rabies testing is not always carried out. In this case, suspicion arose because the lioness died after attacking five people,” an official said.Experts called for clear protocols to test suspected rabies cases, investigate unexplained lion deaths and trace transmission routes across Greater Gir. They also urged prompt post-exposure treatment for people and stronger surveillance beyond the protected forest area.
