Ahmedabad: With 10 human-lion conflicts, including fatal attacks, reported in the past couple of months, Gujarat forest department has decided to rope in Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to investigate what officials believe to be a worrying shift in lion behaviour in Greater Gir landscape.The proposed study will examine changes in lion behaviour, habitat use, movement corridors and prey availability to determine what is driving the recent spike in attacks on humans. Senior forest officials said the latest incidents have alarmed the department because, unlike in earlier cases, lions not only attacked people but also partially consumed the bodies.“Such behaviour was exceptionally rare in the past. Over the last two months, however, there have been multiple cases where lions have killed people and fed on the bodies. We need to scientifically establish whether this reflects a behavioural change, a response to ecological pressures, or some other factor. That is precisely why the WII is being brought in,” said a senior forest officer on condition of anonymity.Principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Jaipal Singh confirmed, “The department has decided to involve WII. The study will primarily focus on Greater Gir landscape, while the exact scope, study area and methodology will be worked out later.”While the forest department maintains that Gir continues to support a healthy prey base, senior officials admit that there has been no regular scientific assessment of ungulate populations across Greater Gir.“The department believes prey availability is adequate because the region supports large populations of wild herbivores. But without periodic ungulate censuses across Greater Gir, it becomes difficult to objectively assess whether prey availability has changed over time,” another senior officer said.Officials also point to a steady rise in livestock depredation. Data tabled by Gujarat govt in the assembly shows that compensation was paid to 920 cattle owners in Amreli district alone in 2023 for livestock killed by lions. By 2024, that figure had risen to 965, an increase of nearly 5%. In Jan 2025, 81 cattle owners received Rs 5.5 lakh in compensation. “If wild prey is as abundant as believed, why are livestock attacks continuing to increase? That is one of the questions that needs a scientific answer,” the officer said.The decision to involve the WII is significant because the state abruptly halted the institute’s landmark long-term lion research in July 2020, just ahead of the state’s lion census.Started in 2006 as “Ecology of Lions in the Agro-Pastoral Gir Landscape”, the project was later renamed “Metapopulation Dynamics, Behaviour and Ecological Role of Lions in the Greater Gir Landscape” as its scope widened. Radio-collaring of lions started in 2007, allowing researchers to generate one of the country’s longest datasets on free-ranging Asiatic lions.The study tracked lion movements, habitat use, ecological adaptations and interactions with people across the Greater Gir landscape. Among its notable findings was that lions could travel nearly 100km in a single night. It also documented the region’s unusual coexistence model, in which many farmers tolerated lions because the predators helped control crop-raiding nilgai and wild boar.However, permission to continue the study was withdrawn in 2020 without any public explanation, bringing the 14-year project to an abrupt end. Former forest officials believe that the decision left a critical gap in long-term ecological monitoring. “Landscape-level changes do not happen overnight. They unfold over years. Had WII study continued, we would have had a continuous scientific record on changes in lion movement, habitat use and behaviour. That could have helped explain why conflicts are escalating now,” a former forest official said.
