Animal underpasses on Maharashtra highway a life-saver, tigers turning out to be regular users
16 July 2019
LAST
WEEK, travellers on the newly four-laned NH-44 in Maharashtra recorded
a startling video. It showed T1, a tiger from the Pench reserve,
crossing the highway in daylight. Pench officials said T1, a male of
about 11 years, had already been hit once by a vehicle in February.
Two
days after that video was shot, two people died on the highway after
their car hit a truck while swerving to avoid a wild boar.
Last
week, travellers on the newly four-laned NH-44 in Maharashtra recorded
a startling video. It showed T1, a tiger from the Pench reserve,
crossing the highway in daylight.
Wildlife activists have cited
these incidents to underscore the inadequacy of the nine underpasses
built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), on the
directions of the Bombay High Court, for animals to avoid the highway.
However,
a report by Wildlife Institute of India (WWI) scientist Bilal Habib and
his team shows that over March, April and May, 17 different species of
animals started using these underpasses along the 16-km patch of forest
on the Maharashtra side of the highway — including T1.
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