From the shooting of a gorilla to save a child in Cincinnati to “arresting” sanctuary lions in India, the human world keeps coming in conflict with wild animals.
Police in India have rounded up 18 male suspects wanted for the murder of three in Gujarat, an arid western Indian state.
If one is found guilty, he will be sentenced to life in prison. Or, a kind of prison at least: a zoo. The suspects are all Asiatic lions, according to BBC News and Washington Post reports.
The species is endangered, and its population has dwindled as human settlements encroach on its remaining habitat. As that process speeds up, humans and lions are more likely to come into contact, leading to killings that go both ways. Approximately 400 Asiatic lions are left in the wild, and they are the only wild lion population outside of Africa. Wildlife officials in India say that Gir National Park, where almost all these lions live, can accommodate only 270 of them, leading some prides to venture outside its boundaries. Six attacks on humans have been reported recently near the sanctuary, the only habitat of the Asiatic lion.
Gujarat’s top forest official, JA Khan, said that the lions had been “arrested” over the past two months and were now being held in separate cages while tests were carried out.
“We think we have pinpointed the guilty lion, but we are still awaiting the results of nine more animals,” he said.
India’s Supreme Court recently ordered Gujarat to relocate some of its lions to other states, but the state has yet to comply.
