Asiatic Lioness Found Dead on an Island in Gujarat

An Asiatic lioness was found dead on the Doliya coast, Gujarat on Tuesday morning. The Lioness is said to have ventured into the sea to reach an island, 2.5 km away from the Amreli coast, and then died while trying to get back to the mainland.

The forest officers who were informed about a lioness being spotted at the island, reached the area on boats but could not take the lioness to the mainland.

Eventually, she was found dead on the Doliya coast on Tuesday morning.

Our staff spotted the lioness on the island but couldn’t rescue it on Monday. The animal was too weak and tranquilising her was not an option as we feared that she can run into the sea after being shot with a tranquiliser dart as the area was too small. We gave her food and water and were waiting for her to return to the shore at low tide. But we found her carcass on Tuesday morning.

Ganga Sharan Singh, Deputy Conservator of Bhavnagar told The Indian Express

The forest officials were unsure about how the lioness (believed to be about four years old) reached the island.

We believe it could have gone there during low tide and was left stranded. We are still not sure if the carcass recovered this morning is that of the lioness which was spotted on the island.

Ganga Sharan Singh, Deputy Conservator of Bhavnagar