"Lion force" to prevent poaching of Asiatic Lion

Ahmedabad, Mar 30: Concerned with a sharp increase in Asiatic Lion poaching cases in the Gir wildlife sanctury in Gujarat, a voluntary organisation has decided to set up a ''Lion Force'' to rescue the feline cat from poachers.

Manisha Rajput, who runs Aruvi Foundation, is training villagers in the sanctuary to set up watch dog committees to prevent poaching in the jungle.

''In the initial phase, we have trained 200 people residing in villages such as Sasan, Keshodh, Talana and Kukavaw in Gir sanctury.

The teams of these trained villagers constitute the ''Lion Force,'' which will do combing and night patrolling in the jungle and timely alert the forest department of any illigal activities,'' Ms Rajput told UNI.

''We aim to train 2000 villagers in the sanctuary to prevent any incident of poaching in the future,'' she said referring to the killing of two lionesses and one lion in Gir on March 5.

''Asiatic lions are the major tourist attraction and their killing has an adverse effect on the tourism industry,'' said Ms Rajput, who has spent six years in Gir forest as an environmentalist.

Apart from ''Lion Force,'' her NGO has concieved campaigns such as ''Walk for Vanraj'' and ''Green Vote.'' ''The 'Walk for Vanraj' is a rally which will sensitise people across the state about the lion's importance in environmental conservation, whereas the Green Vote is a political campaign which will sensitise voters to put condition before candidates to take oath for environmental protection,'' she added.

UNI