10 days after goods train mowed down 2 lions, passenger train runs over, kills lion cub in Amreli
“It was gathering dark and raining when the train hit a four-month old lion cub,” Rajdeepsinh Zala, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) of Gir (east) wildlife division, told The Indian Express.
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The incident took place at 7:25 pm Monday when a local passenger train going from Bhavnagar city to Mahuva town of Bhavnagar district hit a lion cub at Borala, a village some 21 kilometres from Savarkundla town, forest officers said (Express File Photo) Ten days after two sub-adult Asiatic lions were run over by a goods train near Pipavav port in Rajula taluka of Amreli district, a lion cub was run over by a passenger train near the district’s Savarkundla town late on Monday. As the cub’s grieving mother kept camping in the area, a caution order (CO) was issued Tuesday for trains to slow down in the section, forest officers said.
The incident took place at 7:25 pm Monday when a local passenger train going from Bhavnagar city to Mahuva town of Bhavnagar district hit a lion cub at Borala, a village some 21 kilometres from Savarkundla town, forest officers said. “It was gathering dark and raining when the train hit a four-month old lion cub,” Rajdeepsinh Zala, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) of Gir (east) wildlife division, told The Indian Express.
He said a CO was issued two days before as the cub’s mother’s movement was observed in the area. However, the accident happened hours after the CO expired. “The lioness was observed in that area on July 29 and therefore, the local range forest officer and station master had issued a CO limiting speed of trains to just 20 kilometres while passing through the area and asking loco pilots to remain alert. However, the CO expired on July 30. As the lion movement was not recorded in that section subsequently, no further action was taken. However, the lions apparently came on the track on July 31, leading to the accident,” said Zala.
The forest officer said a railway tracker organised by the forest department was also near the site of the accident, but could not prevent the death. “The tracker was barely 500 metres away from the place where the train hit the lion cub. But as night fell and it was raining, the distance proved too much,” said the DCF.
The incident comes 10 days after a goods train hit two sub-adult male lions at Uchaiya village on the border of the Pipavav port in Rajula taluka, some 68 kms from Borala on July 21. While one of the lions was killed on the spot, the other succumbed to his injuries the next morning at Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh where he had been shifted for treatment.
Zala said that another CO was issued between Lilia and Savarkundla section of the railway line Tuesday after the mother of the cub was spotted in the area. “The lioness was seen near the spot of the accident Tuesday noon. Therefore, we have issued another CO for the section,” the DCF said.
(EOM)
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