How do people live in this village of Gujarat where lions roam every day?

On the morning of Thursday, October 22, a dead calf was found outside the house of Gobarbhai Gohil in Valadar village of Kodinar taluka of Gir Somnath district.

There were deep wounds on his neck and the blood accumulated there was clearly visible.

Gobarbhai's wife Lakhuben told that a lioness had caught hold of the calf, which she chased away by making noise.

Gobarbhai, a farmer by profession, says that at around 11 pm on October 21, a lioness had come near his house with her two cubs.

10 days before this, on the night of 12th October, a lioness had come to Valadar village in a similar manner. He attacked 30 year old Mahesh Rathod and took his life.

Forest Department officials say that Mahesh Rathod was sleeping outside his house surrounded by bushes behind the village.

Later, the forest department caught a young lioness and locked it in a cage, but the people of Valadar say that even after this, lions continue to visit the streets of the village every night.

On October 21, at around quarter to eight in the evening, farmer Pareshbhai Kanjibhai Kayada told in the square of Valadar that the condition of the village is very bad because of the lions. 80 percent of the land in the village is occupied by orchards and the remaining 20 percent is grown in crops like sugarcane, making it unsafe to work in the fields.

Valadar village with a population of about two thousand is situated between Shingoda and Somat rivers. The bushes like Khakhra and Abhaga present in the village prove to be a good place for lions to live.

Animal farmer Vipul Vansh told that every year many of his goats become victims of lions and leopards. He used a net to increase the height of his wall, but the leopard overcame that too.

Farmer Geetaben Makwana says the danger for women is double because they cannot go to work in the fields without a man.

Jitubhai Solanki says that in the last five-seven years, lions have started roaming in the streets of the village in large numbers. In the year 2024, 45 animals were killed.

Prashant Tomar, Deputy Forest Conservator of Gir West Forest Department, said that the state government has given a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the heirs of Mahesh Rathod and the attacking lioness has been locked in a cage.