296 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



"It is only a question of time before the lion will disappear even 

 from this district, although at present it is closely protected. The 

 number, which is roughly estimated at 200, is not increasing. The 

 inevitable diminution of the forest, in spite of the restrictions against 

 cutting, and the possibility of disease owing to the confined area, 

 mean ultimate extermination." (Vernay, 1930, p. 81.) 



Economics and conservation. The Lions "commit considerable 

 havoc amongst the cattle, which are brought into the Gir for grazing 

 purposes during the greater part of the year, besides helping them- 

 selves liberally to the sambar, nilgai, spotted deer, and pig with 

 which the forest abounds. ... A large number of lions are kept 

 in captivity in the State gardens at Junagarh, where they breed 

 very freely." (L. L. Fenton, in Lydekker, 1900, pp. 410-412.) 



"It is reasonable to suppose that the factors which exterminated 

 it in Europe, Asia Minor and Syria and have brought it to the verge 

 of extinction in Mesopotamia and Persia, even if they have not 

 already achieved that end, were the same as the factors which 

 exterminated it over almost the whole of the area it occupied in 

 India. In my opinion there is no reasonable doubt that the main, if 

 not the sole, factor in the case of Europe and southwestern Asia 

 was man. At all events it was most emphatically not the tiger. . . . 



"It is not unlikely, in my opinion, that the Kathiawar stock is 

 deteriorating in size from inbreeding." (Pocock, 1930, pp. 641, 665.) 



"I ... hear that the status of the Indian lion, as far as preser- 

 vation and numbers are concerned, is most satisfactory. They have 

 of late been overflowing from their original reservations in the 

 Gir Forests of Kathiawar and Junagadh State, and have made 

 themselves unpopular by cattle killing. Their numbers are esti- 

 mated to be not less than 150. 



"It must be remembered that there is no wild life in their present 

 habitat on which they can prey, and they live almost entirely on 

 village cattle. There are, of course, far more cattle there, as in other 

 parts of India, than are economically desirable ; but ... if the local 

 native rulers were to withdraw their protection, the lion would 

 speedily disappear. There is, however, little danger of this happen- 

 ing, and the villagers at present cooperate loyally in the protection 

 of these animals; even to the extent, in a recent case, of pulling a 

 lion out of a well into which he had fallen, with no little risk to 

 themselves." (C. H. Stockley, in Hit., May 29, 1933.) 



"Even in the Province of Kathiawar, where tigers do not exist 

 and where no struggle for supremacy between these two giants of the 

 tribe could have taken place, the lion was slowly driven from the 

 Barda and Aleche hills, from parts of Dhrangadra and Jasdan as a 

 result of human settlement and the progress of cultivation. 



