Child mauled to death by lioness in Gujarat's Amreli

On 22 October, Tuesday, a five-year-old son of farm labourers has been mauled to death by a lioness in Gujarat's Amreli district, a forest official said.

Range forest officer GL Vaghela said the child was playing outside his hut in a plantation area of Navi Jikadri village under Jafrabad taluka on Monday evening when the big cat attacked him and took him away.

The victim was born to farm labourers and after an extensive search carried out by locals and forest department personnel in the area, the body was found and sent to a hospital, he said.

Vaghela also said efforts were being made to capture the lioness.

Gujarat is the only abode of Asiatic lions, and according to the last census carried out by the forest department, its population has grown significantly from 284 in 1990 to 674 in 2020.

Nearly half of the big cats are dispersed outside protected areas, spanning nine districts and 13 forest administrative divisions, with their distribution area increasing from 22,000 square kilometres in 2015 to 30,000 sq km in 2020, the forest department has said.