Train mows down 9 rare vultures in north Bengalin north Bengal

Jalpaiguri: As many as nine Himalayan vultures (also known as Himalayan Griff-on Vultures) were mowed do-wn by a train when they were feeding on the carcass of a cow lying on the railway tra-cks inside Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday. The spot is a few hundred metres from Gulma station.

“It happened between 9am and 10am. Kanchankan-ya Express crossed that spot and within the next hour, TSLJ Dolo Down passed the area. We suspect the incident happened between the passage of the two trains. The vultures are classified as ‘near-threatened’ in IUCN Red list,” said Jayanta Mondol, assistant wildlife warden of the wildlife sanctuary.

The forest department was informed about the incident by villagers on Saturd-ay, raising questions on wh-ether the stretch is patrolled regularly. The train was trav-elling so fast that the birds did not get time to fly away, said a forester. “There was a cow carcass on the tracks for the last 2-3 days and the trackmen didn’t notice it. It proves vigil was poor,” said Animesh Bose, member of the state wildlife advisory board.


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