A male bison and its calf died after being hit by a train in the jungles near Shedgali village near Khanapur on Tuesday. Forest officers said that the bison must have come near the railway track looking for food.
Several times, commuters throw morsels of food out of train windows. This creates a habit among wild animals to look for food near the tracks. They are not accustomed to fast trains and often get killed, a forest officer said.
He recalled that a bison was run over by a train on the Karnataka-Goa boarder last month.
They said the Forest Department would initiate an inquiry and consider filing complaints against erring loco pilots if it is found that they did not follow the protocol for driving through forests.
Deputy Conservator of Forests M.V. Amarnath, Range Forest Officer Basavaraj Walad and Assistant Director of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Gururaj Managuli visited the spot.
