The rare Asiatic lions are clearly not safe in their only natural habitat and an official revealed on Friday that poachers have killed three more animals at the Gir wildlife sanctuary in Gujarat, India.

This is the second case of its kind in less than one month and has come as a huge shock to the officials.

P. N. Roychoudhary, a forestry official in the western state of Gujarat, said

We are shocked. In one month six lions have been killed.

Incidentally, carcasses of the lions were found in all six cases but the claws, bones and skulls were missing and that suggests the motives behind the poaching. Lions claws are in demand because some people wear it as pendant hoping it to increase their virility, while the bones are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Though the lion population has increased from 327 in 2001to 359 in 2005 in Gir, the animals face dangers other than poaching as well.

There are concerns about how the authorities are protecting the rare animals after it was reported that 25 Asiatic lions have drowned after falling into wells over the past five years.