Speeding vehicle kills tiger cub near Chandrapur in Maharashtra

CHANDRAPUR: A 15-month-old female tiger cub was run over by a speeding vehicle on the outskirts of Chandrapur close to the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve, it was learnt on Thursday. The cub managed to crawl around 30 metres into the foliage after being hit hard by an unknown vehicle. The cub’s body was semi-decomposed indicating the accident took place at least two to three days ago.
Forest officials recovered the cub’s body in the forest beside road 476 under the forest department corporation of Maharashtra, Junona range, on Thursday.

Corporation official Sudhakar Dole said the cub suffered multiple injuries including a fractured limb. “There were signs of it being dragged some distance with the vehicle,” Dole said.

It was the fourth instance of a carnivore’s death in a road accident in Chandrapur in the last five months. A full-grown female leopard died in an accident on Junona-Karwa road in Ballarpur range and its body discovered on December 19 last year.

Also, a wounded body of a female tiger was discovered on Mudholi-Katwal road on Moharli range on January 1. The forest department, however, had ascribed her death to a territorial fight. A sub-adult leopard was knocked dead by a speeding vehicle on Umri Potdar-Maonra road and its body discovered on January 11.

The Junona range has been in news for poaching and lack of protection, resulting in several large carnivore deaths in recent years.

Honorary wildlife warden Bandu Dhotre said the Junona forest is an important tiger corridor on the southern side of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger reserve. “This pristine forest is rich with herbivores and predator population thanks to ample water,” Dhotre said.

“However, there’s no control over vehicular movement on the Junona-Gilbili-Pombhurna road that cuts through the forests. The road is frequented by wildlife buffs and even motorists wanting to avoid highway traffic. With no speed breakers and warning signposts about wildlife presence, vehicle speeds are high on the stretch,” Dhotre said.

Asked about the unchecked traffic on the road, Dole said the forest department has directed the PWD to build speed breakers on the road.

“We’ve started measures to restrain traffic movement on Junona-Gilbili road. As a first step, a check post has been put up at Junona. It will be manned by the forest department and record every vehicle passing on the road,” Dole said.

Postmortem was performed on the cub’s body on the spot, with Dhotre and Wildlife Protection Society of India’s Mukesh Bhandakkar supervising the formalities.

Junona, a poachers paradise

The Junona range has witnessed frequent poaching and lack of wildlife protection in recent years. The range came to notice in January 2009, when three tiger cubs were rescued from the forest after their mother went missing, suspected to have been poached.

The most controversial of all was the poaching of a big cat, its body found hacked into 11 pieces, in Borda forest in May 2012. Investigations in yet another tiger poaching case in Junona range revealed that the Borda tiger too was poached in Junona range and later dumped into the Borda forest in September 2013.

The latest poaching of a tigress busted by Central Chanda, also took in Junona. Poachers chopped the body and sliced out all of tiger’s bones that fetch high prices in the black market.

Two poachers were also arrested while hunting in Junona forest in February. One of those, Santosh Singh Tak, is a seasoned poacher, had been active for the past several years.

On two separate instances in November 2010 and June 2012, tigers were found dead in Junona. On both instances, the deaths were attributed to territorial fight.