BHARATI PAWASKAR
PANAJI
An eyewitness has come forward to narrate the tragic incident that happened at Raia on late Thursday night when a female leopard cub was hit by a running car and got killed instantly. The cub had died on the spot while crossing the road at Raia at around 10.15 pm after hitting by an unknown car that drove past, unaware of the accidental hitting. Anand Borkar, an eye witness to this sad incident who was returning home riding his two-wheeler, told The Goan that he stopped immediately after seeing the accident happen within a fraction of a second. Afte checking if the cub was alive, he pulled her away from the middle of the road and immediately called the forest department.
A driver at Pavlo Travels and a resident of Raia, Anand recalls, “The leopard had already crossed half road and was on the divider when I first noticed him. As he stepped down on the road to cross further, a car speeding from the opposite direction hit him on the face. As the car was descending down the slope with speed, it didn’t stop. Probably the driver was unaware that his vehicle has hit some animal on the road, and he drove away.” Badly hit, the leopard had already fallen down. I stopped, got down of my two-wheeler and went closer to check whether the animal was alive. But the car had hit his face so badly that blood was oozing out. It was an instant death,” elaborates Anand who immediately called the forest department and pushed the body of the cub to the roadside.
Animal attendant at the Forest Department in Margao Julio Quadros rushed to the spot after getting Anand’s call, asking him to guard the body till he reaches. Upon reaching the spot of the accident at 10.45 pm, Julio examined the cub, which was female and declared it dead. He did the formalities and called his senior officers who also rushed to the spot. Later, with the help of the deputy conservator of Forest Anil Shetgaonkar and range forest officer from the mobile squad Siddhesh Gawade, the cub’s body was taken away for postmortem which was to be done next morning at the Government Veterinary Hospital at Sonsodo.
“After that the body would be taken for cremating. As per law, the dead bodies of Schedule 1 animals are to be burnt,” explains Julio who has been with the forest department since 2005, first as a volunteer and then from 2011 as a staff. Julio is of the opinion that it is due to the mountainous range in Verna, Nuvem, Ambore, Raia, Sonsada, Chandor etc that the big cats from the Western Ghats come down to the village and city area. The last he saw an accident was a leopard being accidentally killed at Balli on rail tracks, hit by a running train, some four-five years ago. But Anand vouches that he has seen a fully grown leopard in the Raia area six months ago. The one died now may be her cub. The mother may have already crossed the road, with the cub following her and meeting his cruel fate while doing so,” opines Anand.
