Wildlife in captivity: Lion Shows

Lion shows using Baits

It was during the visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, to the Gir forest in 1955, that tethered buffalo baits were provided for the first time to anchor lions so that they could be conveniently shown to the distinguished visitors.

This technique was perfected and adopted for arranging daily “lion shows”, so that tourists could see lions easily and that too killing and devouring kills. Needless to say, these lion shows became very popular with the public and led to a steady increase in the number of tourists visiting the Gir Sanctuary.

This technique of congregating the lions on bait was transplanted for lion counting in 1968. The bait system of lion counting provided high degrees of accuracy and avoided duplication & doubt about the identification of lions. This bait system of counting continued for thirty years till 1995. However it was discontinued after public interest litigation which was filed in the High Court on the grounds of cruelty to animals.

But it has been found that some areas with so called “Satellites Lion Population” in the Amreli and Bhavnagar Districts have proved to be havens for illegal lion safaris. A sizeable number of local tourists across the State & other parts of India now prefer a private lion show where they can spend the entire night watching lions on kill.

The uncontrollable tourism beyond Gir has made the lions vulnerable and in order to stop such illegal tourism, strict laws have been put in place. Recently, Gujarat Government has decided to involve the Special Operation Group of the State Police Force to completely stop illegal lion shows.