At least 286 lions, including 143 cubs, have died in Gujarat in the last two years, PTI quoted state Forest Minister Mulubhai Bera as saying on Tuesday.

Bera told the Assembly that 58 of the deaths were caused by unnatural causes such as the lions getting hit by vehicles or drowning in open wells.

A hundred and twenty-one lions had died in 2023 and 165 in 2024, he said.

According to the Lion Census conducted in June 2020, Gujarat had 674 Asiatic lions, mainly in the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary.

More than 450 leopards, including 140 cubs, had also died in the state in 2023 and 2024, the forest minister added. Of these, 225 died in 2023 and 231 in 2024.

Among leopards, 153 deaths were attributed to unnatural causes.

The minister said that the government was building speed-breakers and signboards on roads passing through sanctuaries, building walls for open wells near forests, installing fences along railway tracks near the Gir sanctuary and radio-collaring Asiatic lions to track their movement.

Additionally, veterinary doctors and ambulance services had been introduced for forest officials to quickly provide treatment to wounded lions and other wild animals.