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Junagarh: To protect the world’s last remaining Asiatic lions, a vaccine for more than 500 of the big cats in and around the Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat have reached India from the United States. Officials of the Forest Department of Gujarat have arrived in Mumbai to get hold of the crucial shots, which are likely to reach Gir by Friday afternoon.
The deaths of as many as 23 lions at the Gir forest — believed to have been caused by a deadly combination of Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) and a protozoal infection — since 12 September has the Forest Department worried. It is a crisis looming over the endangered animals.
The Forest Department has also sent an SOS to experts in England. Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife Circle, Junagarh) DT Vasavada said they had contacted experts from the Royal Veterinary College in London and had also invited them to visit the affected places at the Gir Forest National Park.