Yet another Asiatic lion has died unnaturally on the periphery of the Gir forest in Gujarat. The four-year-old lion, is reported to have been bitten to death by a snake near Pipardi village of Amreli district in eastern parts of Gir.
A farmer from Pipardi came across the dead lion on Thursday morning. He immediately informed the forest department. A team of forest officials rushed to the spot, took possession of the carcass and sent it for postmortem.
According to Anshuman Sharma, deputy conservator of forests of the area, the lion was probably killed by a snake.
"The postmortem revealed a snake-bite on the lion's left leg. It is likely that the snake may have bitten the lion about 12 hours before his carcass was discovered. The effect of the snake-bite was such that the body had turned bluish, leaving no doubt about the cause of his death," he said.
In the past too, odd incidences of lions killed by snakes and pythons in Gir have been reported. There have also been occasional cases of the big cats succumbing to injuries sustained in fights with leopards and sometimes with other lions as well.
And then there are numerous open wells in and around Gir, which are like death traps for lions and other animals. All this, of course, in addition to the occasional human attempts to poach or electrocute the big cats.
