In a tragic incident, a male tiger cub of T-14 tigress was killed after being run over by a goods train in Gondia district on Monday. The accident spot is about 2 kms from Garada Railway Chowki between Hirdamali and Pandri on Gondia – Ballarsha rail route. Importantly, the track bisects the reserved forest and regular forest that is part of corridor where animals move frequently. The accident took place in morning hours probably when the cub was attempting to cross the railway track. Soon after receiving the report, Deputy Conservator of Forest Kulraj Singh, NNTR’s Field Director Poonam Pate, ACF Rajendra Sadgir, RFO Praveen Sathwane along with Honourary Wildlife Warden Mukund Dhurwe, Wildlife Enthusiast Rupesh Nimbarte and others rushed to the spot.
Veterinarian Dr Gajre performed the post-mortem and after completing the formalities, the carcass was consigned to flames as per the guidelines of NTCA. Former Wildlife Warden Sawan Bahekar termed the incident as very unfortunate and raised the need for having some effective mitigation measures to avoid such loss of precious wildlife. He has demanded that the Forest Department should build some underpasses near railway track for safe movement of the animals.
