Officials ‘arrest’ 18 lions after three people killed in India

They added the man-eating lion would be caged for the rest of its life, as it was too unsafe to release it back into the wild.

All the 18 lions kept in custody by the forest officials will be put through a series of tests.

Paw prints of these lions will be taken by police to found the guilty one.

JA Khan, a senior officer of the state’s forest department told BBC that “We think we have pinpointed the guilty lion, but we are still awaiting the results of nine more animals”.

There has been a decline in the population of Asiatic lions, human settlements on its remaining habitat is to be blamed. The officials in India are studying the animals. “Man eating lions usually get aggressive at the sight of a human being”, she said.

Asiatic lions, slightly smaller than their African cousins and with a fold of skin along their bellies, have been increasing in numbers in Gir, with 523 recorded in the latest census. This, in turn, leads to man-animal conflicts.

“After analysing their pug marks and faeces during a 25-day captivity, one adult male and two sub-adult female lions were found to have turned man-eaters, as human remains were found from the excreta of these three”, Singh said.

In April 2013, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat state to send some of their Gir lions to other states to establish a second population there.