Maharashtra: Tiger cub crushed to death by train in Chandrapur

Representational Pic/File/iStock

A tiger cub was crushed to death by a train on the Chandafort-Gondia rail route in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district on Monday morning, an official said, reported the PTI.

The incident took place near Kitadi-Mindala village in Nagbhid tehsil, the forest department official added.

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"The female cub was 3-4 months old. After necessary formalities, it was cremated," said Chief Conservator of Forests Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar who along with other officials visited the spot following the incident, as per the PTI.

Bandu Dhotre, head of Eco-Pro, an organisation working for the environment and animal welfare, said a survey following the death of three tiger cubs on the rail route at Junona on November 15, 2018 had zeroed in on 19 points where reduction of train speed would be ideal to curb such incidents.

The survey report also suggested underpasses in Mamla, Junona, Sindewahi, Chichapalli, Talodhi, Balapur and Nagbhid in Bramhapuri and Chandrapur forest divisions, he said.

However, no measures mentioned in the survey report have been implemented, Dhotre alleged.

Meanwhile, last week, the forest officials in Maharashtra's Chandrapur have found the body parts of a tiger in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) during a search operation, but said that whether they belong to the missing tigress Maya, a popular tigress in the area who went missing in August this year, will be known only after analysis, the PTI had earlier reported on Tuesday.

According to the news agency, the forest officials made it clear that the gender of the striped feline whose body parts were recovered is yet to be established, and a sample of bones collected during the operation has been sent for an analysis to the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bengaluru.

Their clarification comes in the wake of reports in a section of media as well as social media that the deceased animal was T-12, popularly known as Maya, a dominant tigress in the area.

Maya went missing in August this year, following which 150 staff members of the TATR launched an intense monitoring operation to trace the missing tigress Maya from October 7 with the help of camera traps and regular patrolling. The entire area of Tadoba and Kolara ranges, known to be her territory and movement area, was covered during this exercise, an official had said.

(with PTI inputs)