Lions forced to make way for trains
The Ulster Echo Thursday May 15 1890
The lions of India appear to be going the way of the Great Bustard and the Dodo. And the reason is found in the extension of the railways, for the monarch of the forest shares with Mr Rusin a mortal antipathy to the smoke and screams of locomotives.
Within the memory of many persons, lions were common enough in Rajputans and even now the roar of one may be heard occasionally in the wildest parts of central India.
But the new railway from Nagpur is now being constructed through this country and this is practically a notice to quit served upon the few remaining lions in the central provinces.
Some of the only lions worth mentioning seem to be the ones existing in Kattywar, which was visited by Prince Albert Victor the other day.
Their number remains, it is believed, pretty stationary. It is strictly forbidden to shoot them, save by way of the grand sport – but many conditions are unfavourable to their multiplication and even the Kattywar lions are clearly doomed ere long to disappear.
Jesmond Media 