False alarm raised on lion-killing virus in Gir

By Himanshu Kaushik, TNN | 17 May, 2013

AHMEDABAD: The bogey of a deadly virus that wiped out a significant number of wild lions in the African Serengeti in mid-1990s is being raised again, ostensibly to support the proposal of transfer of Asiatic lions from its only home in Gujarat to a new hostile habitat in Madhya Pradesh.

The report claimed that scientists in India had 'recently' found Pestes des Petits Ruminants Virus (PPRV) to be behind the death of a lion in Gir. PPRV is the same virus that in 1994 killed 1,000 lions — one-third of the Serengeti population.

TOI has found that the study, which was completed in 2012, was based on a sample taken from a lion carcass in 2006.

While the existence of the virus is itself doubtful, quite obviously, it has not hit the lion population in the last seven years. In fact, the lion population in Gir has increased from 360 to 411 during the period.

The Gujarat government suspects that the pro-transfer lobby was trying to get international endorsement, at a time when the issue is critically poised in the Supreme Court. The alarm has been raised by Dr Richard Kock of Britain's Royal Veterinary College who has been quoted as saying, "The lions in India are a small vulnerable population and widespread infection with such a virus can kill at least 40% of the Gir lions."

Dr Kock plans to visit India in September to conduct tests with the help of Wildlife Institute of India (WII). It is doubtful though that he will be allowed to enter Gujarat, given the manner in which Dr Ravi Chellam, a pioneer of the translocation plan, was hounded out of Gir by protesters recently. Officials of the forest department ruled out any cooperation with Dr Kock's team and called the virus alert as a "conspiracy backed by a cock and bull story".

Dr R K Singh, director of National Research Centre on Equines who was part of the research, told TOI that the analyses of the samples had only found "marginal presence of PPRV". Since no epidemic had broken out in seven years, he too felt that that the strain may no longer exist in the Gir lions.

Dr Y V Jhala of WII-Dehradun said, "We had received an email from Dr Kock expressing his desire for further study of PPRV prevalence in Gir lions but no decision has been taken yet."

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