Etawah Lion Safari again wants to help out Gujarat’s Gir park
The Etawah safari experts believe the cause of deaths could be the ‘killer’ canine distemper virus (CDV) and said they have a reserve of around 150 vials of the ‘rare’ CDV vaccine, which they are ready to offer to the Gujarat park.
LUCKNOW Wildlife experts from the Lion Breeding Centre and Multiple Safari (LBCMS) Park in Etawah, also known as Etawah Lion Safari, have expressed willingness to probe the deaths of Asiatic lions in Gujarat’s Gir Forest National Park.
The Etawah Lion Safari had in 2018, too, helped out the Gir park.
The wildlife experts, who believe the cause of deaths could be the ‘killer’ canine distemper virus (CDV), said they have a reserve of around 150 vials of the ‘rare’ CDV vaccine, which they are ready to offer, if asked.
“We are more than willing to assist the Gir Forest National Park by probing the death of such a large number of Asiatic lions. It has been reported that in the past five months, more than 80 lions have died due to various reasons,” said VK Singh, director LBCMS Park.
Singh, who suspects CDV as one of the possible reasons behind the frequent deaths, said they have a reserve of around 150 vials of the CDV vaccine, which they can offer to the Gir park.
Singh LBCMS Park has over the years gained expertise in administering the CDV vaccine, which is rare and not available anywhere in the country.
Samajwadi party chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s dream project, the Etawah Lion Safari first saw the usage of CDV vaccine in 2016 after the safari witnessed deaths of five lions between 2014 to 2016 due to canine distemper.
“In a probe, it was found that the lions died of canine distemper which, until then, was believed to affect only dogs. Hence, we got the vaccine C-DV Ferret from San Diego zoo of US and got it administered to the lions,” said Singh.
The director further said, “This vaccine is rare. We import it from the US. We are the only body in India to have CDV vaccine. Also there is a certain technique through which this vaccine is administered and over the years, we have gained expertise in administering the vaccine. No deaths have been reported at the lion safari since then.”
At present the Etawah Lion Safari has 18 Asiatic lions -- 7 were born at the safari itself.
This is not the first time the Etawah Lion Safari has expressed willingness to assist the Gir park in probing the deaths of lions. Lion safari officials said in 2018 they had assisted them in probing the deaths of a large number of Asiatic lions and had
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› We are more than willing to assist the Gir Forest National Park by probing the death of such a large number of Asiatic lions. VK SINGH, director LBCMS Park
also provided them with 200 vials of CDV vaccine.
“It was after they (Gir park) approached us that we had sent an expert and 200 vials of vaccine to administer to the lions. Back then, the park witnessed death of around 85 lions, of which 59 died of canine distemper virus infection,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, on Friday Akhilesh Yadav took to twitter to express concern over the frequent deaths of lions in Gujarat in the past five months.
“During our time, the Etawah Lion Safari became virus free. The first Asiatic Lion Breeding
and Research facility was set up and it developed the vaccine for canine distemper virus. We have lots of vaccine which we would like to offer to Gir National Park to help save their lions,” reads his tweet.
Besides, he also shared a photo of lions with a caption — 85 lions have died in the past five months in Gir forest. Is it because of canine distemper virus?
Officials at the Gir national park could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.