Should India pursue a second free-ranging home for the Asiatic lion outside Gujarat? Critically evaluate the ecological and federal considerations involved.

The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica), one of 21 species under the Centre's recovery programme [2], has risen to 891 individuals spread over ~35,000 sq. km across 11 districts of Saurashtra [1] — yet remains a single free-ranging population. In Centre for Environment Law, WWF-India v. Union of India (2013), the Supreme Court held that a second home at Kuno was necessary for long-term survival [4]. That verdict still holds, though its implementation must be gradual.

Ecological case for a second home

• Single-population risk: an epidemic (canine distemper struck Gir in 2018) or a cyclone could wipe out the entire wild subspecies at one stroke.
• Kuno is historical lion range, offering prey base and space free of Gir's saturation.
• Genetic health: a founder-limited population risks inbreeding depression; a separate deme adds resilience.

Ecological arguments for caution

• Lions live in stable prides; the Court itself noted translocation must draw from a single pride, making the exercise biologically delicate [4].
• Kuno now hosts the cheetah reintroduction, raising predator-competition and carrying-capacity questions.
• Gujarat's alternative — Barda Wildlife Sanctuary, colonised naturally since 2023 and now holding 17 lions, plus gene-pool centres at Rampara and Satvirda [3] — offers in-state dispersal, though it lies within the same disease-and-disaster zone.

Federal considerations

• Wildlife is on the Concurrent List; MoEFCC funds and frames Project Lion's landscape-ecology approach [5], while the Gujarat Forest Department implements and censuses [1].
• Gujarat's reluctance reflects regional pride and stewardship equity — the State bore the conservation cost for decades. Madhya Pradesh, having rehabilitated villages from Kuno [4], has a competing claim.
• Non-compliance with a judicial direction weakens cooperative federalism and the trust needed for future inter-State species transfers.

India should pursue a second free-ranging home, but as a negotiated, phased translocation rather than an imposed transfer — with joint Centre-State monitoring, a shared veterinary and tracking protocol, and Barda strengthened meanwhile. Insurance against extinction is the constitutional duty under Article 48A; cooperative federalism is the means of discharging it.