Jinx on Akhilesh’s lion safari Yes, say locals

The local people believe the Etawah lion safari, a dream project of UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, is suffering from a jinx.

“How else do you explain the nine deaths of lions in the past two years The chief minister is taking utmost care of the project but one after another, the lions are dying mysterious diseases,” said Ram Kishore Yadav, a local businessman in Etawah.

The ninth lion, Kuber, died in the lion safari on Thursday after being ill for a few weeks.

The carcass is being sent to the IVRI for a post mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of the death.

The earlier deaths at the safari have been linked to lions getting infected by canine distemper virus, which also affects dogs.

Prem Kumar, a labourer who has worked in the lion safari, said the healthy lions brought here do not stay healthy.

“Hawa mein kuchh gadbad hai — sab mar rahen hain (There is something in the air that is making them die),” he said.

Since 2014, two lions, two lionesses and five cubs have died at the breeding centre of the lion safari, leaving only three lions and four lionesses at the safari. Lioness Laxmi and lion Vishnu had died in October and November 2014 respectively, while lioness Tapasya had died in January 2016. In July and August 2015, two cubs died within days of their birth and three were stillborn.

Following the deaths, the chief minister had transferred safari director K.K. Singh, who had also been accused of assaulting a security guard. In his FIR against Mr Singh, the guard had alleged that he was assaulted for allegedly leaking information about the deaths of the cubs. Later, chief wildlife warden Rupak De was also removed from the post and replaced by S.K. Upadhyaya in August 2015.

Chambal divisional forest officer and deputy director of the safari Anil Patel said that Kuber, who died Thursday, had been sick for the last few weeks.

A senior forest official, posted in Etawah, also agreed there was a jinx working on the Lion safari.