A three-year-old Asiatic lion succumbed to injuries on Sunday night after it was hit by a goods train in Gujarat last week. The lion died at Sakkarbaug zoo in Junagadh on Sunday The incident happened of July 21 when a goods train hit a pride of Asiatic lions in the Rajula taluka of the Amreli district.
One lion died, while another suffered serious injuries in the incident. Meanwhile, two lionesses managed to escape unharmed by swiftly crossing the railway track before the train approached.
Similar tragedies were reported in the past. In September 2022, a lion cub had died after being hit by a passenger train on the same railway track in the Amreli district. This raised concerns about the safety of these lions near human settlements.
During a session in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly in 2022, the state government revealed data indicating that 283 lions, lionesses, and lion cubs died in two years until December 2021. As many as 29 of these fatalities were attributed to unnatural causes.
As per the 2022 population estimates, there were a total of 674 Asiatic lions residing in and around the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.
