Umaria (Madhya Pradesh): A tiger was killed after being mowed down by a vehicle while crossing a national highway in Gunghutti range of Umaria forest division in Madhya Pradesh early Friday, an official said. The accident occurred on NH-43, around 35 kms away from Umaria district headquarters, the official stated.
“It appears that some light vehicle hit the big cat around 3.00am. The body parts of the tiger were intact,” Umaria divisional forest officer (DFO) Mohit Sood told this agency over the phone. The post-mortem of the tiger is being carried out, he said and added that the feline was not from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. It was not from a protected forest area, the DFO informed.
“I have talked to our forest department officials about putting up signboards to sensitise drivers on the highway. These boards would ask drivers to drive their vehicles with caution while driving in the area to avoid the recurrence of such accidents,” Sood said.
“We have also requested the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to construct speed breakers on NH-43,” Sood said. He added that some other necessary steps would also be taken to prevent such mishaps.
As luck would have been, there were no CCTV cameras at the place where the accident occurred. So the identity of the vehicle which hit the tiger is yet to be ascertained.