Leopard killed in hit & run on Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, 7th on stretch since 2015 | Gurgaon News - The Times of India

Gurgaon: A two-and-a-half-year-old female leopard was killed in a hit and run on Gurgaon-Faridabad Road early on Saturday, renewing concerns over increasing fatalities of big cats along this vital wildlife corridor. The incident, according to forest officials, occurred near Mangar around 4.30am. The carcass was sent to Sohna wildlife centre for necropsy.The stretch -- connecting Asola and Mangar -- has been notorious for man-animal conflicts. Since 2015, seven leopards have died in road crashes in the Gurgaon Aravali region, underscoring the urgent need for better protection.Subhash Yadav, chief conservator (wildlife) in south Haryana, said he would recommend constructing underpasses to the state govt to help reduce such accidents."This road has become a death trap for leopards. We have a few core areas for leopards in south Haryana. One of them is from Asola to Mangar, another is the Manesar zone near the NSG campus. We will barricade these roads to stop wildlife from venturing onto them," he said.Preliminary investigation suggests the leopard died from a head injury, likely caused by the high-speed collision with a heavy vehicle. "We will be able to determine the exact cause of death only after the autopsy report is ready," said Ramkumar Jangra, the divisional forest officer.The pattern of fatalities is familiar. In March 2023, a leopard carcass was found in Bandhwari village off the same road. In June 2021, a two-year-old female leopard died after being hit by a vehicle on Pali Chowk in Faridabad. Oct 2019 saw a one-and-a-half-year-old leopard crushed to death on Pali Road, and in Jan that year, a female leopard was killed in another road accident.The list stretches back over a decade, with similar incidents reported in 2015, 2014, 2009, and even 2008.Wildlife activists have long called for urgent measures to reduce such man-animal conflict. In 2023, three unused stormwater drains were converted into wildlife underpasses on the Gurgaon-Manesar highway, aiming to create safer passages for animals. A similar effort was made on the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, but the lack of barricades and the low height of these underpasses meant leopards and other animals continued to cross high-speed roads, often with fatal consequences."Between 2010 and 2019, road and railway accidents claimed nearly 280% more leopards across the country. A total of 73 died on roads and 10 on railway tracks in 2019 alone -- the highest in a decade," said Vaishali Rana, a Gurgaon-based environmentalist. "Speed control measures and speed breakers along the stretch can save animal lives."Rana added, "This is the price wildlife pays for roads cutting through their habitat. We haven't been able to implement any mitigation in over a decade. So many animals have been lost on this very stretch. Wildlife underpasses were needed from the time these highways were built. Boards and signages -- about 25 of them installed in 2021 -- have either faded or been destroyed over time. Some form of speed regulation is absolutely necessary when traffic is moving through the Aravalis. These signages need to be reinforced."Sunil Harsana, a wildlife expert who has tracked animal movement in the Aravalis for years, called road expansion without mitigation structures a "planning failure". "This is a natural corridor for leopards and other wildlife. Underpasses and signage should have been built years ago," he said.The Gurgaon-Faridabad Road cuts through forest patches linking the Asola Bhatti sanctuary in Delhi with Mangar Bani and the adjoining Aravalis in Haryana. Conservationists have repeatedly flagged the fragmentation of these habitats due to highways, real estate projects, and quarrying. With only 7.1% of Haryana's area under forest and tree cover, leopards have few safe zones left to move and hunt, making them especially vulnerable to accidents.Chetan Agarwal, a forest analyst, believes the solution lies in targeted infrastructure. "Rather than spending hundreds of crores to make cages in the so-called leopard safari, the govt should be spending a few crores to make viable underpasses and overpasses across the roads fragmenting known leopard habitat. Both Gurgaon-Faridabad Road and Sohna Road are core leopard areas. Even in the Sohna master plan, it is clearly mentioned to start the identification of crossing areas for leopards so that they can be protected in the future," he said.