在印度，有20人因非法盜獵基爾森林中瀕臨絕種的獅子，並販售其身體部位，遭法院判處三年有期徒刑，每人併科以罰金約200美元。這是印度司法史上第一宗關於野生動物犯罪的刑事判例。這起案件由檢察總長庫馬爾（Keshav Kumar）親自帶頭調查，他表示：「這是印度第一起為了買賣而獵殺獅子的案件。」
檢察官沙卡巴拉說：「嫌犯不僅從基爾盜獵6隻亞洲獅，亦非法持有野生動物物品。兩位主嫌昆塔•辛哈（Kuntar Singh）與那那卡•辛哈（Nanaka Singh）早在2007年4月即遭查獲兩隻獅爪，而被逮捕到案。」
學名Panthera leo persica的亞洲獅，過去曾遍及北非海岸林，足跡橫跨北希臘至西南亞與東印度。而現今卻只剩印度基爾森林一帶才得以見到牠們的蹤跡。為了取牠們的骨頭入中藥以及爪子當避邪物，這些珍稀獅子的性命飽受盜獵者的威脅，常見獵捕手法包括電擊、或以深井作為陷阱。
在屬於半乾燥氣候的西印度，基爾森林是其中最大的一片「乾燥落葉林」，這片森林不僅是當前野生亞洲獅唯一的基因庫與家園，同時亦為七條河流的集水區，為乾旱的索拉什特拉（Saurashtra）提供水源，保障著生態安全。
古吉拉特邦林務局指出，當局在1970年代即發起「基爾獅保護區計畫」，並配合該計劃實施多項配套措施，如禁止伐木、核心地劃設為國家公園、重新安置游牧民族馬得哈里司人（maldharis）的游牧區域、並賠償獅子獵食家畜或傷人致死的損失，凡此種種，「均有利於生態」。
此外，林務局為了管制人類或家畜進出保護區，在區內設有檢查哨與無線網路，並部署相當數量的車輛與武器。
不過，即使如此，亞洲獅的生存仍岌岌可危，目前在世界自然保育聯盟（IUCN）瀕危物種紅皮書中，列為「受威脅等級」。
Twenty people have been sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined for poaching endangered lions in the Gir Forest and trading in their parts, in a case that has no precedent in the judicial history of wildlife crime in India. And ordered each defendant to pay a fine of Rs 10,000, about US$200.
Inspector General of Police, Keshav Kumar, who led the investigations, said, "This is the first known case in India in which the lions were hunted for trade."
Public prosecutor J.M. Sakanpara said, "The accused were arrested for poaching six Asiatic lions from Gir and illegal possession of wildlife articles. Two lion claws were recovered from the main accused Kuntar Singh and Nanaka Singh during their arrest in April last year."
The Asiatic lion, Panthera leo persica, once ranged throughout the coastal forests of northern Africa and from northern Greece across southwest Asia to eastern India. Today, the only living representatives of these lions occur in and around the Gir Forest. The unique lions are threatened by poaching for bones, used in traditional Chinese medicine, and claws, used as amulets. Death from electrocution and from being trapped in open wells is also common, says Kumar.
Gir Forest is one of the largest compact tracts of dry deciduous forests in the semi-arid western part of India. Apart from being the only home of the last surviving natural gene pool of the Asiatic lion, it is the catchment area for seven major rivers and provides ecological security and water for the drought prone region of Saurashtra.
The Gujarat Forest Department explains that conservation measures like launching of the Gir Lion Sanctuary Project in the early 1970s, suspending logging operations and declaring the core area to be a national park, resettlement of maldharis families of nomadic herdsmen and the shifting of their livestock, and the payment of compensation in cases of livestock killing and human death by carnivores have had a "positive impact on the ecosystem."
The forest department has also established check posts, introduced a wireless communication network, and deployed vehicles and weapons to control the movement of people and livestock in the protected area.
Still, the Asiatic lions are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
全文及圖片詳見：ENS
