At a time when most celebs stay restricted to sharing pictures of their meals or pet dogs, any sort of activism is welcome. Actor Raveena Tandon's latest tweet on a rare black panther losing its life on the railways tracks brings to light the outcome of deforestation.
"Oh no no no. A rare creature indeed. Not to be met by a death like this. This shouldn't have happened. A real tragedy. Pathetic. More railway lines/highways being made, cutting through forests. This is the outcome. Why can't fencing be done through forest zones?" posts the actor while sharing the sad and at the same time the disturbing picture of the dead animal.
A rare species lost, but whose fault?
The black panther was killed by a speeding train in Kundapura, Karnataka on Monday. Some of those who brought the incident to light captioned it as, 'Bagheera in his own land killed by an alien machine.' Sad, but true.
Passers-by noticed the body of the panther in the middle of the Mangaluru-Mumbai track on the railway bridge that is situated across Souparnika river in Udupi district. The Forest officials later said that the panther must have been four or five years old.
Save wildlife? Start fencing or stop deforestation?
While the bagheera cannot be brought back to life, efforts can be made to ensure that we don't lose any further lives of this rare forest animal. What can be done? Fencing the forest zones is one such idea many on social media agreed to. The idea stems from two perspectives.
It was only a month ago that an 18-year old boy from Bijapur managed capturing the rare black panther through his lens after 25 visits to a wildlife sanctuary in Mysore. Black panther has been a prized memory in many a wildlife lovers' life. Black panther, also called a black leopard is the black variant of the spotted leopards.
Reportedly, there are only 5 to 6 black panthers in India and among them, only one is residing at Kabini wildlife sanctuary near Mysore. Surviving only in the state of Karnataka, they are not easily spotted. But when they are spotted dead this way, emotions run high.
One social media user suggested using water cannon to disperse these animals on tacks while another wanted the Uttarakhand officials to reduce the speed of trains on these stretches from 100 kmph to 35 kmph.
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