The Kathiawar Lion.

Bombay [Mumbai], The Bombay Natural History Society, 1911. 8vo (23.7 x 16.5 cm). 16 pp.; one photographic plate. Disbound. = A seldom seen account of lion-hunting in the Gir forest in India - the last stand of the Asian lion. . "In the 19th century, the rulers of Indian princely states used to invite the British colonists for hunting expeditions. At the end of the 19th century, only about a dozen Asiatic lions were left in India, all of them in the Gir Forest, which was part of the Nawab of Junagarh's private hunting grounds. British viceroys brought the drastic decline of the lion population in Gir to the attention of the Nawab of Junagadh, who established the sanctuary. Today, it is the only area in Asia where Asiatic lions occur and is considered one of the most important protected areas in Asia because of its biodiversity. The Gir ecosystem with its diverse flora and fauna is protected as a result of the efforts of the government forest department, wildlife activists and NGOs. It is now considered the jewel of Gujarat's ecological resources"(Wikipedia). The author, Lieutenant-Colonel Fenton describes his hunting, on horseback, with a stunning indifference towards the lions, their ecological importance, and their vulnerability. However, "In the closing decades of the 19th Century, the large body of Army’s sportsman-naturalists (Shikaris) were disturbed that wildlife of India and its forests were dwindling at an alarming rate. The first to sound the alarm was Colonel L L Fenton (a gunner turned Grenadier and then into political service) when around 1895 as Political Assistant in Kathiawar he realised that last surviving pride of the Asiatic lions of the world then numbered less than 50 animals were confined mostly to the Gir Forests" (Singh). The British-Indian army officer Layard Livingstone Fenton (1849-1921) was the author of the posthumously published The Rifle in India being the Sporting Experiences of an Indian Officer (London, W. Thacker, 1923; ix, 329 pp.). Published in the Society's Journal, Vol. 20. A very good, clean copy. Singh, B. (2006) Fauna and Flora : Contributions by the Indian army officers 1778-1952. Journal of the United Service Institution, India.