Bigcats News

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just heard the sad news, Bajirao the dominant male of Bor Tiger reserve was hit by a speeding truck and died on the spot.


here's the full story.

NAGPUR: The dominant male tiger of BorTiger Reserve, 'Bajirao', aged around 8 years, was knocked dead by an unidentified speeding vehicle on NH-6 near Bazargaon, 30km from here, on Friday at 7pm. Though there have been several leopard deaths, this is perhaps the first case of an adult tiger dying in a road hit in the state in last 6-7 years.
With this, the national tally of tiger deaths this year has mounted to 114, with 24 deaths in Maharashtra, second highest in the country after neighbouring Madhya Pradesh (26).

Wildlife experts blamed lack of planning by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and lax attitude of state forest officials in not insisting upon mitigation measures on the highways.

The tiger death comes a day after a big nilgai was knocked dead on NH-6 near Murdoli in Navegaon-Nagzira Tiger Reserve (NNTR) corridor. NHAI has not taken any mitigation measures on NH-6 despite Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court directing it to construct underpasses.


Bajirao (BTR-T2) was the dominant male of Bor, and foresters posted in Bor say it must have sired at least 22-25 cubs with three breeding females — Katrina, Ambika and Katlabodi — in his 400 sqkm home range, which included patches in Wardha and Nagpur divisions.

"The incident shows that small protected areas like Bor are highly dependent on small forest patches around them to maintain connectivity. Loss of such individuals due to linear infrastructure is detrimental to the gene flow, and long-term viability of tiger populations. This tiger regularly shuttled between Bor-Kalmeshwar range, crossing NH6. Its pictures were captured on camera traps in 2012 survey in Kalmeshwar," said Aditya Joshi of Wildlife Conservation Trust(WCT) and NTCA representative.

As a sizeable crowd gathered at the spot, the tiger was dumped in a tractor and later shifted to an ambulance to be taken to Nagpur, where it will be kept in a deep freezer. The post mortem will be performed on Saturday.



Earlier, tigers have dispersed from Kalmeshwar range to Pohra-Malkhed in Amravati, indicating it is a highly functional corridor to Melghat. "Multiple incidents of dispersal have been recorded by our field biologists," said Milind Pariwakam, head, WCT's Central Indian Tiger Landscape Programme.

He said lack of planning while developing highways is the major cause of such tiger deaths. NH-6 and NH-7 are classic examples of such unplanned development. "NHAI is also unnecessarily delaying construction of mitigation measures along NH-6 near Navegaon-Nagzira, despite of all clearances from statutory authorities and courts. NHAI should be held responsible for tiger deaths along highways for the delay in mitigation measures," Pariwakam said.

Honorary wildlife warden Kundan Hateand wildlife enthusiast Sarosh Lodhi demanded registration of offences against NHAI officials for the tiger death. They said Bajirao's death shows why wildlife mitigation measures are a must.

"At least now NHAI should construct underpasses at these spots. Earlier, a full-grown male leopard had died at the same spot in 2010," said Hate. "Looking at the carcass, it seems the tiger was heading towards Bor from Kalmeshwar range," said Lodhi.

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Rip Bajirao, Maharashtra lost a legend. Reply