Gujarat officials confirmed that extreme heat, not disease, killed eight Asiatic lion cubs in the Gir forest this May. Extensive lab tests by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre ruled out contagious outbreaks like canine distemper or babesiosis. Forest Minister Arjun Modhwadia noted that severe heat stress primarily affected cubs with lower immunity.
While disease is ruled out, conservationists remain highly concerned about the escalating threat that rising temperatures and climate change pose to the world’s only wild population of Asiatic lions.
