NASHIK: On June 15, a civet cat was hit by an unidentified speedy vehicle near Camel Valley in Igatpuri on Mumbai- Agra Highway. The incident was unnoticed by the Shahapur as well as Igatpuri Forest Range Officials. The photos of the civet cat got viral in the nearby region of Igatpuri-Shahpur.
The civet cat’s body was in decomposed state when the forest team arrived at the spot on the night of June 17.The spot, where the incident took place is on the border of the Thane and Nashik district Forest departments. Because of that, the roadkill was neglected by the forest personnel from both the district and forest ranges.
After that some vigilant citizens informed the forest department about the incident. Accordingly, the beat officials of Kasara Beat Rushikesh Jangam came to the spot and conducted a panchanama.
A spot postmortem was done as the carcass was destroyed by the ongoing traffic on Mumbai-Agra Highway. As per the official, they cremated the remains of the civet cat.
Need for patrolling
For two days, the incident of roadkill of civet cat went unnoticed by the Forest Department. Last year too, a hyena met with a similar fate. The forest department took two days to take action on hyena roadkill. On June 17, 2022, a baby python was rescued by snake friend. The spot is highly wildlife-prone and mostly endangered species are spotted. The Forest departments from both the districts need to increase patrolling on the highway and make the drivers vigilant about the wildlife.
Install awareness boards
The Mumbai- Agra highway passes through Kasara and Igatpuri. The ghat region has good number of wildlife and many parts of forest are still untouched. As the Mumbai- Agra highway passes through this region, it acts like threat for wildlife. Many roadkill incidents have been registered on this highway, while some went unnoticed. The forest department needs to install awareness signs for safety of wildlife, expressed wildlife lovers.
