Well,I'd like to talk to you now about the GirSanctuary in India.That's where I've just come backfrom.The sanctuary was established specifically toprotect the Asiatic lion.It's 1,450 square kilometresin area and most of it is forest.There are now aroundthree hundred Asiatic lions in India and almost all ofthem are in this sanctuary.
But despite living in a sanctuary,which makes themsafe from hunters,they still face a number ofproblems that threaten their survival.One of theseis the ever-present danger of disease.Thsi is whatkilled more than a third of Africa's Serengeti lions in 1994,and people are fearful thatsomething similar could happen in the Gir Sanctuary and kill off many of the Asitic lions there.
India's lions are particularly vulnerable because they have a limited gene pool.The reason forthis is interesting - it's because all of them are descended from a few dozen lions that weresaved by a prince who took a particular interest in them.He was very wealthy,and he managedto protect them - otherwise they'd probably have died out completely.