Golden Jackal killed in road accident in Mumbai

Over the past two years, three jackals have been killed in road accidents between the Mulund to Kanjurmarg section of the Eastern Express Highway

noida Updated: Apr 09, 2018 00:32 IST
The jackal’s carcass was completely crushed under vehicles passing by the Eastern Express Highway since Sunday morning.
The jackal’s carcass was completely crushed under vehicles passing by the Eastern Express Highway since Sunday morning.(HT)

A Golden Jackal was killed in a road accident early Sunday morning near Bhandup along the Eastern Express Highway (EEH).

Over the past two years, three jackals have been killed in road accidents between the Mulund to Kanjurmarg section of the EEH, with the last incident recorded on September 30, 2017.

According to the forest department, the incident happened around 4.30am Sunday morning. “When we reached the spot, the carcass was brutally mutilated and we found body parts lying around at different ends of the highway. As a result, we could not conduct a post-mortem. While there is no clarity on the driver or the vehicle that might have hit the animal, we have reached out to the state highway authority for some mitigation measures for such accidents,” said Santosh Kank, range forest officer, Mumbai range of the Thane forest department.

Animal welfare groups that informed the forest department about the accident said the carcass was totally crushed under vehicles passing by the area since morning. “Usually, in such instances, the carcass recovered are in almost destroyed state as the EEH has vehicular movement at all hours of the day, and they keep getting crushed under the wheels of passing vehicles,” said Pawan Sharma, president, Resqink Assocication for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW). “We have limited data about these animals. We need to work out strategies on how to study and learn more about them with the forest department so that conservation activities can be initiated.”

A Protected Species

The Indian Golden Jackal is protected under schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and is known to frequent mangrove areas in search of crabs and other species for their diet. Officials from the state mangrove cell estimate there are 12 jackals in the Vikhroli-Ghatkopar mangrove area.

On March 29, a male Golden Jackal was rescued by animal welfare officers from Godrej Creekside Colony, a residential colony near the Vikhroli mangroves, making it the third such rescue over the past year.