Tiger Killed After Being Run Over by Train on ‘Death Track’ in MP, Ninth Big Cat Victim in a Year
This was the ninth death of a tiger on the same stretch of railway line in the last one year, forest officials said.
Bhopal: An adult male tiger was run over by a speeding train on the Budni- Midghat railway line, which acquired the tag of ‘death track’ due to frequent deaths of wild animals at the same place, forest officials said on Thursday.
The carcass of the tiger, believed to be hit by a speeding train late on Tuesday night, was found late on Wednesday, leading forest officials to rush to the spot to retrieve it.
This was the ninth death of a tiger on the same stretch of railway line in the last one year, forest officials said.
This apart, as many as ten leopards have died in the same stretch of railway track after being hit by speeding trains in separate incidents in the last one year, a senior forest officer said.
The railway track at a particular stretch in Budni-Midghat railway line has curved and the particular area has witnessed majority of the deaths of the wild animals after being hit by speeding trains in the night time, sources said.
The Madhya Pradesh forest department has written letters to the railway authorities concerned to take short-term and long-term measures to prevent the death of the wild animals passing through the stretch of railway line, the forest officer said, requesting not to be quoted.
The rail line passes through the core zone of the Ratapani Tiger Reserve.
The short-term measures recommended by the state forest department to prevent deaths of the wildlife animals crossing the rail line included limiting the speed of the trains passing through the stretch to 60 km per hour, blowing of horn and building a wall of net.
The long-term measures recommended included construction of underpass and overpass over the particular stretch of the railway line.
The ‘non-compliance’ of some of the vital recommendations has caused frequent accidents involving the wild animals leading to their death, the forest officer claimed.
In July 2024, three tiger cubs were hit by a speeding train, leaving one of them dead and two others injured.
