Lion pride spotted near Ashoka rock edict in Junagadh

A week after a pride of eight lions were seen loitering in a residential area of Junagadh town, a group of four lions were on the road near the rock edict of Emperor Ashoka close to the residential area of the town, officials said on Monday.

Though the cats, seen Sunday night, did not harm anybody, an incident of killing of a buffalo by lions in nearby Lakhakhotha village in Bhavnath area has created panic and fear among the residents of the town.

A forest official department said on Monday that it was not yet clear if it were the same lions, seen loitering last night in the town, who had killed the buffalo, but did not rule out this possibility.

On June 25 last year, a straying lion from Girnar, the part of larger Gir forests, the only abode of Asiatic lions, was seen sitting on the protection wall of the Ashoka rock edict.

An uneven rock, with a circumference of seven metres and a height of ten metres, bearing inscriptions in Brahmi script, stands there.

On the night of July 11, a pride of 8 lions, including some cubs, was seen strolling along the road side close to Mota Girnar Darwaza, which is again a residential area. They stayed in the area for quite some time but did not harm anyone as there was nobody on the road at that time.

The incidents of lions frequenting in residential area have also raised concern among the city dwellers in the wake of four incidents of human deaths and injuries in lion attacks reported from neighbouring Amreli and Gir Somnath districts in last few months.

--IANS

desai/vd