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EGO VERSUS ENVIRONMENT

by Ananya Singh | 20-01-2019 18:54



2018 was a year that put on display many distressing headlines. Some of the worst predictions on and about our Environment came true. 

One such even occurred in Gujarat, India. In 1994, a canine distemper epidemic killed one third of the lions in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. It ed biologists to the perils of having large wild-animal populations together. Disease and epidemics are a form of biological population control – until the populations and habitat are already small. Then it becomes a disaster.

In 2013, the Supreme Court of India had asked Gujarat, home to the world¡¯s only wild Asiatic lions, to give some of them to a second habitat in Madhya Pradesh. But Gujarat didn¡¯t comply, asserting that the animals were its pride. And then what biologists had been saying for years came true.

First it was just a few lions. But soon after, in October, at  Gir, at least 23 died  from the canine distemper virus (CDV).

In India, wild and domestic animals mix freely. Among them, dogs carry a host of deadly pathogens, including the CDV. A rabid dog bit a tiger in the Panna reserve in 2013. The latter received two anti-rabies shots and had to be monitored, in case other cats were exposed to the disease.

The second, and exacerbating, problem with the Gir and Girnar sanctuaries is that they seem to have reached their holding capacities. In recent years, lions have walked up to the coastline, fallen in wells and have been mowed by trains. On December 18, a train ran over three lions in Amreli.

Gujarat¡¯s response to the disease outbreak has gone against the known principles of conservation – exemplified by its continued refusal to part with the lions. The state may believe its own sense of majesty arises from its stewardship but when it chose to vaccinate them instead of letting them found a second home, it¡¯s hard to believe it doesn¡¯t think of the lions like it does cattle.

So, what is more important ? Our ego or our environment ?