Wildlife Train Incident: Hit by train, jumbo dies in Uttarakhand | India News
A male elephant and a calf were hit by a speeding train when the pachyderms were trying to cross
A male elephant and a calf were hit by a speeding train when the pachyderms were trying to cross a railway track and move towards the Gaula range of the Terai eastern forest division. While the male jumbo, around 20 years old, died, the calf, roughly eight years old, sustained critical injuries.
The incident occurred around 3am on Thursday near the Lalkuan-Bareilly railway section.Forest range officer of Gaula range initiated a rescue operation and a team reached the spot and transported the injured calf to Lalkuan for medical care.
Divisional forest officer of the Terai forests, Sandeep Kumar, said, “The calf’s condition is stable. The male elephant’s death in the train incident is a setback for us. We’re set to deploy an intrusion detection system (IDS) on the Lalkuan-Gularbhoj and Lalkuan-Rudrapur railway tracks — identified as among the 100-most sensitive tracks for wild animals in India. The IDS will provide the railways with advanced information on the movement of elephants. We’re preparing underpasses in these areas too.” Since the formation of Uttarakhand as a separate state in 2000, 22 elephants have died in train-related incidents. Despite agreements between the forest department and the railways to run trains at slow speed at night on specific routes, such incidents continue to occur.
The incident occurred around 3am on Thursday near the Lalkuan-Bareilly railway section.Forest range officer of Gaula range initiated a rescue operation and a team reached the spot and transported the injured calf to Lalkuan for medical care.
Divisional forest officer of the Terai forests, Sandeep Kumar, said, “The calf’s condition is stable. The male elephant’s death in the train incident is a setback for us. We’re set to deploy an intrusion detection system (IDS) on the Lalkuan-Gularbhoj and Lalkuan-Rudrapur railway tracks — identified as among the 100-most sensitive tracks for wild animals in India. The IDS will provide the railways with advanced information on the movement of elephants. We’re preparing underpasses in these areas too.” Since the formation of Uttarakhand as a separate state in 2000, 22 elephants have died in train-related incidents. Despite agreements between the forest department and the railways to run trains at slow speed at night on specific routes, such incidents continue to occur.
