{"id":70,"date":"2020-05-20T09:05:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T09:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/?p=70"},"modified":"2021-10-11T08:13:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T08:13:40","slug":"national-pride-in-danger-babesiosis-outbreak-claims-lives-of-23-lions-in-gujarats-gir-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/national-pride-in-danger-babesiosis-outbreak-claims-lives-of-23-lions-in-gujarats-gir-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"National Pride in danger: Babesiosis outbreak claims lives of 23 lions in Gujarat\u2019s Gir National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"760\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/gir_lion.jpg\" alt=\"lions in gir national park\" class=\"wp-image-72\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/gir_lion.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/gir_lion-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahmedabad: The tick-borne babesiosis disease has claimed lives of as many as 23 Asiatic lions within a short span of three months in<a href=\"https:\/\/girnationalpark.in\/\"> Gir National Park<\/a> of Gujarat. Officers said that efforts to prevent the spread of the disease are underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A senior officer of Gujarat\u2019s forest department said that\nthe lion deaths were caused as a result of exposure to a protozoan parasite\ncalled babesia. It spreads due to mite bites and tick infestation. The disease\nis known as babesiosis. It is non-contagious and can be treated completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Infected lions are\nbeing treated <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While speaking to the Hindustan Times, DT Vasavada, Chief\nConservator of Forest, Junagarh said that the deceased big cats inhabited a\nsmall part in the eastern Gir forests and might have got infected by feeding on\nsome animal. As many as 18 babesiosis-infected lions are being treated at\nJasadhar Animal Treatment Centre. Six animals have been successfully treated\nwith the help of antibodies, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Efforts to contain\nthe babesiosis outbreak<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The forest department has undertaken several measures\ncontain the outbreak of the protozoan disease. The officials are de-worming\ncattle because the Asiatic lions often prey on them, cattle enclosure are also\nbeing disinfected as mites and ticks could be present there. Moreover, grass\nand hay near water holes is being burnt as all animals gather there for\ndrinking water and chances of presence of mites and <strong>ticks there are high.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Babesia attacks RBCs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Babesia targets red blood cells and causes anaemia in lions.\nThe condition makes them susceptible to other diseases such as canine distemper\nvirus (CDV). Earlier, the combination of the deadly virus and the tick-borne\nbabesiosis killed nearly 24 lions. This prompted the Gujarat Forest Department\nto import CDV vaccine from the US and vaccinate all the lions in the Gir\nNational Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: Times Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ahmedabad: The tick-borne babesiosis disease has claimed lives of as many as 23 Asiatic lions within a short span of three months in Gir National Park of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9,7],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gir-news","tag-asiatic-lions-in-gir","tag-gir-national-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girnationalpark.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}