Rajkot: A five-year-old male lion was injured after it has hit by a goods train near Uchaiya village of Rajula taluka in Amreli district on Tuesday morning. The injured lion was first treated at Babarkot rescue centre and later shifted to Sakkarbaug zoo in Junagadh for further treatment.
The forest department has formed a team under the assistant conservator of forest to probe the incident as ascertain if the train was moving within the prescribed speed limit.
According to forest officials, the lion received injuries on its leg and head. The goods train was moving at speed of around 40 kmph when it hit the lion, they said. The lion trackers nearby halted the train going to Pipavav port from Savarkundla till senior forest officers arrived at the scene of the incident.
Talking to TOI, deputy conservator of forest (DCF) Shetrunji Division of wildlife circle Nisha Raj said, “There is a mango orchard near the railway track where the lion was sitting before the train approached. It suddenly crossed jumped on the tracks to cross it. But hearing the train horn it got distracted tried to go back and got and hit by the moving train.”
Forest officials claimed that because the lion came on the track suddenly from the orchard, it collided with a moving train without the trackers or train driver noticing it.
Amreli district is home to nearly 110 lions who move in unprotected areas (revenue area) and face danger from trains going and coming from Pipavav port. Approximately two dozen goods trains arrive at Pipavav port daily. Majority of the portion passes through areas where wild animals including lions have been spotted. Forest trackers have been deployed near the tracks to inform the railway authorities wherever lions are seen near the tracks.