Lion, Lioness Fall Into Open Well In Gujarat, Drown
A lion and a lioness drowned after falling into an open well in Gujarat’s Gir Forest Division’s Amreli District, a forest official reported on Saturday.
The large cats, which ranged in age from five to nine, fell into a farmer’s well in Kotda village, Khambha taluka, on Friday morning, according to Rajdeepsinh Zala, deputy conservator of forests (DCF), Gir (East).
“The farmer informed us as soon as he came to know about the incident. However, by the time the rescue team from the forest department reached the spot, the animals had drowned. Their carcasses were fished out and sent for post-mortem,” Zala said.
Since 2007-08, at least 11,748 wells in the Gir East division covering Amreli and Gir Somnath districts have been secured with parapets to prevent big cats from falling into them, the official said.
“As many as 8,962 wells in Amreli and 2,782 in Gir Somnath have been covered with parapets. But this is just about our division. It is a continuous process as new wells keep coming up,” Zala said.
Last March, the state assembly heard a response from the previous forest minister, Kiritsinh Rana, who stated that 283 lions had perished in total over the previous two years, up through December 2021.
21 of them had passed away unexpectedly, including by falling into wells and being ran over by trains and cars.
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