A man in Gujarat, India, narrowly escaped a serious attack by a lioness after managing to calm the animal by stroking it. The incident occurred on July 6 in Garajiya village, Bhavnagar district.
Kalubhai Boghabhai Gamara, a local cattle herder, was reportedly going to feed his livestock when a lioness attacked him from behind, knocking him to the ground and clawing his leg. Bystanders threw stones and shouted in an attempt to scare the feline away, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Gamara was pinned by the lioness for nearly 30 minutes, during which time the animal repeatedly bared its teeth and growled.
Instead of reacting with further aggression, Gamara began to stroke the lioness, which he reported helped to calm the animal. Eventually, the lioness retreated on its own accord toward a nearby forest.
Gamara was taken to a hospital in Palitana with severe injuries to multiple parts of his body, and his treatment is ongoing. "She caught hold of my hand and did not let me go for a long time," he told local media.
Officials from the Palitana Wildlife Range suggested that the villagers' reactions may have contributed to the attack. A statement indicated that the villagers "started screaming after sighting presence of a lion resulting in the lion trying to run away causing injury to one person."
Gujarat's Kathiawar peninsula is the sole remaining natural habitat for Asiatic lions, with an estimated 891 lions in the state as of 2025. Lion attacks have reportedly been on the rise in recent months. In late June, a five-year-old boy was killed by a lioness in the Amreli district.
The forest department has initiated a search to capture the lioness responsible for the recent attack.