Ahmedabad: Gujarat forest and environment minister Arjun Modhwadia announced that the disease scare, which had gripped the state’s forests over the past few days, has subsided, with 12 of the 17 lions that were quarantined now released back into the wild.Modhwadia, in a video message, said that the 17 lions were kept in quarantine following the death of eight cubs after an illness was reported among them. The minister, who had earlier attributed the deaths to babesia, avoided making any direct reference to the disease this time. He did not even mention whether the disease was babesia or canine distemper virus (CDV).The minister stated that the remaining five lions were healthy but required additional time for observation, and hence have not yet been released, adding that they too will soon be set free into the wild.A social media post by the office of the deputy conservator of forests, Gir East division, Dhari, had indicated that CDV might have led to the deaths of 10 lion cubs and three adult lions in the Gir landscape, even as official confirmation was still awaited from the state forest department.A post published on the division’s Facebook account on Thursday mentioned, “After the virus scare in Gir, relief for the forest department as a healthy pride of five lions was spotted resting near Khapat village.”Officials said that the department and senior authorities are concealing the possibility that a combination of CDV and babesia may have caused the deaths of the lions. An officer noted that similar outbreaks had occurred earlier — in 2018, again in 2020, and in 2024 — but govt never officially confirmed such outbreaks or specified the reasons behind them.The Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), which is working on a CDV vaccine, stated in its 2023-24 report: “As part of these projects, GBRC conducts diagnosis of CDV through RT-PCR in suspected and deceased lion samples. In 2023-24, 26 samples were screened, of which four tested positive for CDV.”
