A Leopard was killed after it was run over by a vehicle, while it was crossing a road near the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur early last morning
The dead leopard was spotted by locals in Chandrapur
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A Leopard was killed after it was run over by a vehicle, while it was crossing a road near the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Chandrapur early last morning. The incident has once again highlighted the need for constructing underpasses and animal corridors in forested areas.
According to VS Shelke, chief conservator of forest (territorial), Chandrapur, the incident took place around 8 am, when a full-grown leopard was crossing the Chandrapur-Mul Road. “The animal died on the spot,” Shelke said. Locals were unable to identify the vehicle that hit the animal, before fleeing the spot.
Need for animal corridors
In the past, there have been reports of wild animals dying while crossing the road. The cases have increased with several road projects being implemented in forested areas. Wildlife conservationist and biologists feel that the need of the hour is to construct animal corridors or underpasses to ensure such incidents don’t take place in the future.
“In our country, the size of protected areas is small, so such incidents are common. The construction of wildlife crossings and underpasses near forested locations will allow animals to cross the roads and highways without the fear of being hit. We also need wildlife corridors that connect various forests, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries,” said senior scientist Dr Bilal Habib from the Wildlife Institute of India.
Accidents commonplace in city
In 2012, Mumbaikars for SGNP, an initiative by Sanjay Gandhi National Park, revealed that 40 leopards had died in road accidents along the periphery of the park between 1994 and 2011. A majority of these accidents took place on the stretch between Ghodbunder village and Vasai, near Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary.
In February this year, a full-grown leopard was killed in a hit-and-run incident that took place near Vasai on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.
In 2015 too, a young leopard had died in a road accident near the park. While SGNP authorities had said that they would take measures to curb the rate of animal road kills by installing signboards, no measures have been implemented yet.
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