In a distressing development on a tiger hit-and-run case, a tiger cub was run over by a moving vehicle on the National Highway 43 in Madhya Pradesh. The tiger was killed on the spot. According to authorities, the tiger was crossing the national highway close to the Umaria forest division in Gunghutti.
Details
A cub of less than a year was mowed over by a moving vehicle on the NH43 at Shahdol-Umaria border. The cub was trying to cross the national highway in the wee hours and after being hit by the vehicle, died on the spot.
After receiving reports about the accident, the forest officials of the Umaria forest division rushed to the spot. Upon preliminary investigation, the forest team deduced that due to the loss of blood the cub died on the spot.
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Divisional Forest Officer of Umaria, Mohit Sood was quoted by news agencies saying-
“The tiger was crossing the national highway in Gunghuti range of Umaria forest division. The incident occurred on NH-43, around 35 kms away from Umaria district headquarters.”
Tiger Cub hit by light vehicle, Died due to blood loss
According to Sood, a light vehicle hit the tiger cub on wee hours on Friday (possibly around 3 AM). While the cub died due to blood loss, Sood opined that the body parts of the tiger were in-tact and its post-mortem will be carried out soon.
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Origin of the cub has puzzled forest authorities as Sood said that the tiger cub was not from the closest tiger reserve – Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Further, Sood also claimed that the cub did not emerge from a protested forest area.
Officials to put sign boards to caution drivers
The DFO (divisional forest officer), Mr. Sood also claimed that he spoke to the officials to put up sign boards on the highway for drivers to caution them against such potential mishaps.
“I have talked to our forest department officials about putting up signboards to sensitise drivers on the highway about maintaining caution while driving in the area to avoid the recurrence of such accidents,”
-DFO Sood said.
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Highway Authority contacted for speed breakers
Further, he also said that necessary steps will be taken to prevent such future mishaps and that he has requested the NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) to put speed breakers.
“We have also requested the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to construct speed breakers on NH-43,”
-Mr Sood said.
Tiger & Bear run over by trains
Incidents of tiger being run over in India are not as rare as one may imagine. Earlier in March this year, a tiger was run over by a goods train in Gondia district, Maharashtra, and died on the spot. The accident took place between Gongli & Hiramali railway station in the Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.
In the same fashion, 2 sloth bears were mowed over by a passenger train near Gondia. The train was near the Gangajhari railway station when the accident transpired.
4 Tamil Nadu Lions COVID-19 Positive
In other pressing news regarding wildlife concerns, 4 Tamil Nadu lions have tested COVID-19 positive. While the news in and itself is a concerning one, what’s more concerning is the fact that the lions have contracted the Delta variant of the COVID-19.
Earlier on May 24, Tamil Nadu’s Arignar Anna Zoological Park sent samples from 11 lions that roam there, for the COIVD-19. The Anna Zoological Park further sent 7 more samples on May 29 to the Bhopal’s ICAR – National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases.
It should be noted that Anna Zoological Park was in the news recently after a 12-year-old male lion died due to COVID-19 this week. The 12-year-old male’s death followed the death of a 9-year-old lioness’ death that occurred on June 3.
