Police hope lions on the prowl will help flush out bandits
A pride of 25 wild lions is to be released into a lawless valley in central India to flush out gangs of bandits.
The rare Asiatic lions are to be freed by the Uttar Pradesh state government in the Chambal Valley. The Chambal region has long been home to the forest brigands known as dacoits, who have been blamed for more than 4,000 kidnappings and 180 murders in the past five years.
The lions will be transferred from a national park in Gujarat and will be released in the forests of Etawah, a district in the northern part of the valley.
Creation of a lion sanctuary would serve the dual purpose of protecting the big cats and scaring off the bandits.
'The presence of such large carnivores will be frightening for the dacoits,' said a forest ranger in Etawah. 'They were never afraid of the hyenas and wolves of the Chambal ravines, but lions will scare them away, we are sure.'
The project has been welcomed by Uttar Pradesh police.
'Ending the dacoit menace has been a very big challenge to the police,' an officer said.
Etawah police officer S.K. Chaudhary said: 'If the first phase of the lion safari project is successful, our government will speak to its counterpart in Madhya Pradesh for an extension of the lion sanctuary deeper into Chambal.'
The rugged Chambal Valley has provided the perfect cover for numerous dacoit gangs for decades.
Guddu Khan, a 32-year-old Etawah businessman who was kidnapped by a Chambal gang five years ago, doubted whether the lions would pose a threat to the dacoits.
'They are very good hunters. They will shoot the lions the way they killed many leopards, wolves and other wild animals in the area,' said Mr Khan, who was released after three months on payment of a ransom.
The valley was the haunt of 'Bandit Queen' Phoolan Devi, whose story of rape and revenge was made into a film.
