Bhupender Yadav: 'Separate free-ranging Asiatic Lion population under consideration, states are being consulted'

📌 Summary:

• Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said establishing an additional, geographically separate free-ranging population of Asiatic Lions is "under consideration" in consultation with state governments, scientific institutions and expert bodies

• Asiatic Lions remain an isolated, single "island" population in Gujarat's Greater Gir landscape; despite Supreme Court orders to translocate some to Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park, Gujarat has not done so — leaving the population vulnerable to zoonotic and contagious diseases like Canine Distemper Virus

• The Centre says it supports scientific assessment, disease surveillance, habitat preparedness, prey augmentation and veterinary preparedness; translocation of large carnivores needs careful ecological, genetic, veterinary and social consideration plus inter-state coordination

• On tigers: with populations dispersing and breeding outside core reserves (Vidarbha, MP), poaching and human-wildlife conflict have risen; protection is being strengthened via NTCA, Special Tiger Protection Forces, anti-poaching camps and M-STrIPES surveillance

• On Project Cheetah: the intention is not to keep cheetahs in enclosures permanently — enclosures are part of a scientific acclimatisation phase under the Cheetah Action Plan

• The interview comes ahead of India hosting the first global big cats summit early next month, where 90+ countries are expected to adopt a 'Delhi Declaration' on protecting seven big cat species

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — wildlife conservation, the risks of single-site (island) populations, species translocation policy, Centre-state friction in conservation, and India's leadership of the International Big Cat Alliance.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Asiatic Lions are found only in the Gir landscape, Gujarat; Kuno National Park (MP) was identified by the Supreme Court for their translocation

• Project Cheetah reintroduces cheetahs at Kuno; M-STrIPES is the tiger-monitoring software platform of the NTCA

• The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), headquartered in India, covers seven big cats: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma

🔑 Key Term: Translocation — the deliberate, human-assisted movement of a wild species from one habitat to another, used to establish a second population and reduce extinction risk from disease or localised catastrophe.