Last month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published its first Green Status assessment, a relatively new global standard of measurement envisioned to complement the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, for the lion (Panthera leo). And it does not paint a happy picture for the big cat. According to the assessment, the lion has been classified as ‘Largely Depleted’, which, alongside its ‘Vulnerable’ status on the IUCN Red List, does not bode well for the animal.
Ravi Chellam, a Bengaluru-based wildlife biologist and conservation scientist who has been involved with the conservation of Asiatic lions since 1985, in an interview with The Hindu, offers his perspective on the Green Status assessment for the lion, the history of lion conservation in India and how the introduction of the African cheetah into the Kuno National Park has further jeopardised the fate of lions in India. Chellam is also the CEO of Metastring Foundation, Coordinator of Biodiversity Collaborative and a member of Coexistence Consortium.
IUCN’s first Green Status assessment report for the lion states that the species is now ‘Largely Depleted’. What are the implications of this assessment?
The ‘Largely Depleted’ status of lions as determined by the IUCN’s Green Status assessment indicates that human impacts prevent the lion as a species from being fully ecologically functional across its natural distribution range. Lion habitats and populations have suffered extensive fragmentation, resulting in severe population declines across their range, which includes instances of local extinction, for example in North Africa, Southwest Asia and through much of its historical distribution in India.
As a top predator, lions play an important role in the ecological functioning of the habitats in which they occur. Once lion populations are fragmented, isolated, suffer decline and become locally extinct, they are no longer able to play their ecological role which will have multiple impacts across the trophic levels starting with the behaviour and ecology of co-occurring predators like leopards, prey species, distribution and regeneration of various plant species which constitute the natural vegetation of these habitats and other components of the ecosystem like local hydrology.
Lions were thought to belong to two subspecies: the African Lion (Panthera leo leo) and the Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica). Now we have Panthera leo leo (which includes lions in West and Central Africa, and India) and Panthera leo melanochaita (includes lions in East and Southern Africa). How did researchers arrive at this conclusion?
In 2017, a revised taxonomy of the Felidae was published. This was based on a review of the existing classification of all wild cats belonging to the family Felidae. This work was done by a panel of 22 experts who constituted the Cat Classification Task Force (CCTF) of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. Their work was based on morphological, molecular, biogeographical and other evidence. An agreement on good and reliable morphological, molecular and biogeographical evidence was required to strongly support the acceptance of a taxon (genera, species and/or subspecies).
The review was based mainly on new molecular and morphological research but also considered general evolutionary, phylogenetic, palaeontological, biogeographical, behavioural and physiological evidence, especially in cases where molecular genetics and morphology data were not in agreement.
Does this impact conservation efforts, and if so, how?
This reclassification shouldn’t affect conservation efforts in any manner, especially for the Asiatic lions, which currently only exist as a single and isolated population of about 700 lions in and around the Gir forest in Gujarat. The Asiatic lions are unique in having deer species (chital & sambar) as their principal prey, apart from domestic livestock and a whole host of other wild prey species.
These lions live in close proximity to dense human populations and seem to have adapted to coexist in human-modified habitats. Independent of whether they are scientifically classified as Panthera leo persica or Panthera leo leo, India’s Wild Life (Protection) Act provides the Asiatic lions the highest level of protection as it is listed under Schedule I of the Act.
Due to the limited space, a significant number of lions in the Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary are living outside the protected area, with some lions even swimming across to the island of Diu. What is the impact of this dispersal on human-animal conflict?
Conflict is often a reflection of the attitudes of a person, a group of people, a section of the society or a local community. The mere presence of lions or even the predation of livestock, tragic and inconvenient as it may be, is often not viewed as conflict in and around Gir forest, including places as far as Diu. Most people are very accepting of the lion’s presence.
The situation does change when people are injured by lions, and more so when some of those injured die. To take a more realistic perspective, the question really to ask is why are the number of lion attacks on people so low? Given the very frequent interactions of lions and people, we should expect a far higher number of lion attacks on people. We have around 300 lions living outside the protected area in human-dominated habitats. In many ways, this is the magic of India, where both wild animals and people find ways to coexist.
Several Gir lions have died in the last few years, with reasons ranging from illness (particularly due to the highly infectious canine distemper) to old age, fights, and accidental death. You were among the earliest voices pushing for a second home for Gir lions to ensure their long-term survival. Tell us why it was, and why it still is, important for some of them to be relocated?
The Indian Board for Wildlife, in its first meeting in 1952, discussed the idea of translocating lions from Gir to establish additional wild populations of free-ranging lions. The idea is not something new or novel. It is just plain common sense. Translocation is a conservation tool to establish additional populations of an endangered species at sites which are located in their former distribution range.
When a sub-species like the Asiatic lion is reduced to a single population with all members of the wild population restricted to a single site, the conservation risks it faces increase tremendously. Translocation not only aims to establish additional free-ranging wild populations of Asiatic lions. It also aims to ensure geographical isolation to reduce risks.
Through its order dated April 15, 2013, the Supreme Court directed the Government of India (GoI) to translocate lions from Gir to Kuno within six months in letter and spirit. It is unfortunate that the GoI has not yet complied with this order.
Instead, a bunch of African cheetahs were introduced at Kuno. Can you trace the story of how this came about?
It is really by sleight of hand and by playing a game of smoke and mirrors that the GoI has hoodwinked the Supreme Court and introduced African cheetahs in Kuno while the lions are still to be moved from Gir. The Supreme Court in the Lion Translocation matter made its position abundantly clear, stating that “our top priority is to protect Asiatic lions, an endangered species and to provide a second home” and that “the decision taken by MoEF for introduction of African cheetahs first to Kuno and then Asiatic lion, is arbitrary and illegal.”
Unfortunately, the State government of Gujarat has responded with acts characterised by impunity. Faced with the adamant intransigence of the Gujarat government, GoI continued to neglect and delay the translocation of lions, and in 2016, it filed a review petition through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) seeking permission to explore sites other than Kuno to introduce African cheetahs. In summary, the NTCA sought clarification from the Court that its 2013 Order did not impose a blanket ban on introducing African cheetahs in India and sought permission to explore additional sites to assess their suitability for introducing them.
The court in an Interim Order dated 10th April 2018 stated, “It may be mentioned that earlier the intention was to import the African Cheetahs into Kuno, Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh). By way of this application, the reintroduction of the Cheetahs from Africa is sought to be made in some other places as mentioned in para 3 of the application.” It is important to note that the Court has clearly mentioned that the NTCA seeks to introduce African cheetahs in sites other than Kuno. The final order of the court issued on January 28, 2020, allowed the experimental introduction of African cheetahs at carefully chosen sites and the project was to be implemented under the supervision of a court-appointed Expert Committee.
Despite this, the Cheetah Action Plan released by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in January 2022 prioritised only Kuno for introducing African cheetahs. To rub salt into the wounds, in May 2023, the GoI appointed a new Steering Committee to guide the implementation of the project, effectively sidelining the Supreme Court-appointed Expert Committee.
In the two-and-a-half years since the first African cheetahs were introduced to Kuno, several adults and cubs have died. Most recently, there have also been conflicts between local people and these animals. You are an outspoken critic of the African Cheetah introduction project. What were and are your main concerns?
Despite both lions and cheetahs being large cats, they are very different types of species, and their ecological requirements vary tremendously. Cheetahs are unique compared to lions, tigers and leopards in that they exist in very low densities. Wild free-ranging African cheetahs have average home range sizes from 126 to more than 1600 sq. km. When a species naturally exists in low densities and is very wide-ranging, space and quality of habitat become very critical to it.
Cheetah, being the smallest of the large cats, has adapted to coexist with the larger cats by living in very low densities and also being more diurnal in its activities to avoid potential encounters and conflicts with the larger cats. India currently does not have the required extent of good quality habitats, 4,000 to 10,000 sq. km, to host a viable population of free-ranging cheetahs. This has been our primary objection, in addition to respecting the Rule of Law.
As already explained, the Supreme Court has made it very clear that Asiatic lions should be translocated to Kuno and African cheetahs should not be released at Kuno. Despite this, the GoI has chosen to do what it has done. Lions exist in much higher densities, and a viable population can easily be established in the space available at Kuno.
What are your thoughts about some of the recent conversations around lion conservation, such as the upcoming five-yearly population estimate of lions in India that will be held in May, the decision to make Barda Wildlife Sanctuary a second home for the lions or the ₹2,927-cr Project Lion?
The lion population estimation in Gujarat is an exercise shrouded in secrecy. Whatever little we know with respect to the data collection and analytical methods used does not inspire much confidence. The raw data and the details of the methods used are seldom shared in the public domain, and it does seem like the methods adopted are not very scientific nor statistically robust.
This unscientific approach and continued defiance of the 2013 Supreme Court Order are reflected in the decision to make Barda Wildlife Sanctuary a second home for the lions. As the crow flies, Barda is barely 100 km from Gir, so there is no geographical isolation from Gir. Moreover, Barda is only 192 sq. km in area, too small to hold a viable population of lions.
Leaving aside ecological and conservation realities, it should not be forgotten that the 15th April 2013 order of the Supreme Court of India, directing the Government of India to translocate lions from Gir to Kuno within six months in letter and spirit, is still very much the law of the land. Hence, we must focus on translocating lions from Gir to Kuno, independent of what happens elsewhere, including in Barda.
Also, I do not view Project Lion as a positive development at all. As many of us are aware, throwing big money at conservation almost always results in ecological destruction; not to mention the financial leakages, and the displacement of local communities, which in turn can only have negative consequences both for nature and people. This is typically a distraction tactic.