Cyclone Tauktae: 18 lions go missing, hundreds of chicks dead in Greater Gir

AHMEDABAD: Cyclone Tauktae cast its destructive shadow on the wildlife too. At least 18 lions were reported missing from the coastal districts of Amreli, Gir Somnath and Bhavnagar which bore maximum brunt of the cyclone.
Senior forest officials said that 18 lions were reported missing from Rajula and Jafrabad taluka of Amreli, Una and Kodinar talukas in Gir Somnath and Mahuva taluka of Bhavagar.The three districts are reportedly home to 40 lions.
"We have our fingers crossed over the well being of the lions in these coastal districts. Even as there is apprehension that the lions may have got swept away due to ferocious rains, we hope the Big Cats took refuge in high altitude areas," said a senior official in Saurashtra.
Beginning Wednesday, the state forest department will undertake a comprehensive survey of all 674 lions across Gir and neighbouring revenue areas to ascertain Cyclone Tauktae's impact. Of these, some 340 lions are reported to live in revenue areas outside the Gir sanctuary.
Meanwhile, bird lovers were aghast with images of bird chicks scattered around dead under trees as the little one's could not survive the deadly blow of cyclone. Images emerging from Greater Gir, which is part of the Asiatic lions’ landscape today, led to shock and concern.
Visuals of juvenile cattle egrets, herons and other birds, being crushed to death after falling from treetops offered insight into the trail of destruction that the cyclone had left for wildlife at Greater Gir.
"Herons, egrets and cormorants' nest in colonies of hundreds in trees and hence the loss of bird lives could be large,” said Uday Vora, a retired forest officer and an avid birder.
He said that insectivorous birds including drongos and golden orioles would also have built nests at this time in Gir. In Babara, about 650 small birds resembling chicks of babblers and sparrows have succumbed to the cyclone, he said.