Leopard run over on Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway; vehicle not traced yet

A leopard died after being struck by a passing vehicle on the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway on Monday morning, an official said.

The roadkill is reported to have occurred early in the morning, sometime around 5 am, at Jigenahalli in the Ramanagara district, about 50 km west of Bengaluru.

"It was a male leopard, aged about three years," Kiran Kumar A, Range Forest Officer, Ramanagara, told DH. The crash was so severe that it smashed the leopard's head. The animal bled to death instantly, he added.

Forest officials are trying to identify the vehicle that struck the animal but that would be easier said than done. There are no CCTV cameras on this part of the highway and no eyewitnesses. "Nobody seems to have witnessed the accident. The carcass was spotted hours later by passersby," Kumar said.

The Forest Department has filed a case under the Wildlife Protection Act and is carrying out further investigations, he added.

The challenge, Kumar said, is to identify the vehicle driver. Once that's done, the vehicle will be impounded. The driver could be criminally prosecuted if the roadkill was intentional, he added.

The roadkill highlights the dangers that wildlife face on the newly built 10-lane expressway. There are virtually no humps that could slow vehicles down. As a result, motorists drive at breakneck speed.

While the expressway has underpasses for local villagers, two proposed animal crossings are yet to come up.

The Forest Department has identified two sensitive areas between Bengaluru and Ramanagara that see the regular movement of wildlife. Leopards are routinely spotted in the area around the Handigundi forest near Ramadevara Betta. The Hultar Reserve Forest near Bidadi is part of an elephant corridor that connects Bannerghatta to Savandurga.

Conservationists say the two animal crossings are not enough. They also point out that the animal crossings should have been part of the expressway design.