India Watches for Deadly Virus as Lion Deaths Spike in Gir Sanctuary

• Radhakrishna N S
• 03 October, 2018

By: Radhakrishna N S

Ten endangered Asiatic lions have died in the last two weeks in India, authorities have confirmed on Tuesday (2). Four among them were killed by a virus that killed around 1,000 lions in Tanzania in the 1990s. The new deaths take the toll at the Gir sanctuary in the western Gujarat state, home to India’s entire population of around 500 wild Asiatic lions, to 21 since September. India’s National Institute of Virology determined that the canine distemper virus was responsible for four of the 10 latest deaths, Gujarat environment minister Ganpat Vasava told AFP. In 1994, an outbreak of CDV…

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