Lioness captured after attacking 3 persons in Gujarat dies during medical treatment

Amreli: A lioness, captured after attacking three persons in Gujarat's Amreli district, showed signs of a "nervous disorder" and died while undergoing treatment at a rescue centre, a forest department official said on Sunday.

The big cat had caused terror in Vavera village of Rajula taluka in the district after it attacked and injured three persons there on Friday, officials said.

The lioness, about four-five years' old, was caged after a massive effort on Friday night and shifted to the rescue centre, Chief Conservator of Forests, Junagadh, Aradhana Sahu said.

"The lioness died during treatment on Saturday evening. After being rescued, it was shifted to a centre in Bhavnagar district for treatment. It was showing some signs of nervous disorder and succumbed to it," Sahu said.

According to officials, the lioness injured a man and a woman on Friday morning, and attacked another person the same evening in Vavera village.

After the incidents, the forest department cordoned off the area and started the search and rescue operation which lasted for some hours before the big cat was finally caged on Friday night, they said.

It was rendered unconscious using a tranquiliser gun and shifted to the rescue centre in Bhavnagar for a medical checkup and treatment, Sahu said.

As per a government report in 2020, the population of Asiatic lions in Gujarat rose nearly 29 per cent to 674 from 523 in five years from 2015, while the distribution area of the lions went up 36 per cent. In a reply to a question in the state assembly in February 2023, state forest minister Mulu Bera said 240 lion deaths were reported in the state in two years in 2021 and 2022 due to various natural and unnatural causes.