Close on the heels of an elephant calf being killed after it was hit by a train near Khanapur on Hospet-Tinaighat section of the South Western Railways, a gaur was mowed down near Devalli Gate near Tinaighat in Joida taluk of Uttara Kannada district with common boundaries with Bhimgad and Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuaries on Monday night.
Wildlife activist Giridhar Kulkarni of Belagavi, who visited the spot on Tuesday, said here on Wednesday that the increasing deaths of wildlife animals in this section of South Western Railways was due to the “failure” of the Railway Department to take mitigation measures. This is the sixth time that a wild animal had been knocked down on the same railway line. Two gaurs were hit by a train near Londa in February and March this year. Last December, a gaur was crushed under a train near Dharwad.Mr. Kulkarni, who is collecting data on wildlife deaths in and around Belagavi Forest Division, said that the gaur was a protected animal under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and an important prey for tiger, leopard and dholes. The area where the incident took place was an important elephant corridor.
Apart from this, the entire area was part of the Sharavati-Dandeli-Khanapur Tiger landscape.
