Nagpur: Call it survival instinct of the wild, animals in the hinterland of Samruddhi Mahamarg have begun taking the lifeline overpass built on the expressway to avoid being mowed down by speeding traffic and their detours have been captured on camera traps along the stretch. The animal instinct was triggered by the rising toll on their lives since the hi-tech expressway was thrown open to traffic on December 11, 2022.
The latest camera trap survey by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, however, shows encouraging results.As per the agreement signed between WII and MSRDC, the monitoring team deployed 64 camera traps across overpasses and underpasses in the wildlife focus areas (WFAs) of Samruddhi expressway. Last month, several wildlife species, including ungulates, small mammals and carnivores were found using the overhead crossing, avoiding the high-speed highway. These include herds of nilgai, chinkara and wild boars, the Indian hare, Indian crested porcupine, mongoose, gray langur and leopards.
A total of 1,797 mitigation structures of 11 types, including wildlife underpasses and overpasses have been constructed on sensitive stretches of the expressway. These include 7 wildlife overpasses, 17 wildlife underpasses, and 2 tunnels within WFAs, besides those outside WFAs.
“These observations contribute valuable scientific data on wildlife utilization of overpasses that would further assist in assessing effectiveness of wildlife mitigation measures along the expressway,” said Maheep Gupta, PCCF (wildlife), Maharashtra.
Gupta said initial results of the monitoring are encouraging and they “expect more insights as the study progressed”. The results from this study shall help implement mitigation measures across other highways in the state, he added.
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