Bengaluru: Wild animals are being regularly killed by speeding vehicles on three state highways and a national highway passing through critical wildlife habitats of Khanapur taluk in Belgaum district.
The admission has been made by the authorities concerned in response to an RTI query by an activist, Giridhar Kulkarni. It appears that as many as 12 large mammals have been killed since 2012 on the three state highways of Sindhanoor-Hemmadaga, Belgaum-Chorla and Alnavar- Ramnagar, and National Highway 4A running from Belgaum in Karnataka to Panaji in North Goa.
“Many large mammals like the bison, spotted deer, jackal, sambar deer, sloth bear, and leopard have been killed by speeding vehicles on these highways that pass through wildlife habitats. Animals of the Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary and Kanakumbi Forest continue to be under threat even today,” says Mr Kulkarni.
“ Sadly, cases are booked only when a larger mammal gets killed. Deaths of smaller animals like langurs and bonnet macaques and snakes go unnoticed,” he regrets, also noting that hundreds of wild animals are being killed due to the delay in carrying out impact mitigation measures by the PWD and KRDCL.
“Although numerous meetings have been held and civic agencies have agreed to install rumble strips, speed- breakers and sign boards to prevent animals from being killed by vehicles in these parts, nothing has been done till now," he complains.
Wildlife activists point out that the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016) has suggested to the Ministries of Surface Transport and Railways that they should take care to bypass all national parks and sanctuaries when planning their projects in the interest of the animals. “Either wildlife corridors should be entirely avoided, or at least night traffic banned in these parts to protect the animals,” they underline.
