Forest officials, however, said that none of the 200-odd animals in the 16 sq km safari park died in the fires, one of which ravaged nearly 5 hectares on Sunday.

Tourist flow to the park has been very high during the last few days in view of the Diwali and Hindu New Year holidays.

According to Mahesh Singh, Deputy Conservator of Forest (Gir West), ``On Saturday we came to know that sparks flying out of a tourist car's exhaust caused a fire which gutted about 2 to 3 hectares. It was brought under control after some time. Again on Sunday around 4.30 pm, when more than 100 tourists were in Devalia, another fire broke out in an area covered with thick dry grass''. Forest staff said the fire was caused by a cigarette butt thrown from a vehicle.

But, ``luckily, none of the animals got trapped or was injured in the fires,'' an officer said. Atpresent, there are four lions, 100 spotted deer, 120 neelgai, 5 sambars, 2 black bucks and 25 wild boars in the interpretation zone.