The carcass of a gaur (Indian bison) was found on the tracks near Falakata station in nporth Bengal’s Alipurduar district on Monday.
The forest department has started a probe to find out if the gaur was hit by a train or it had died of some other reason.
Residents of Gopanagar, which is in ward 17 of Falakata, spotted the carcass on the tracks of the New Jalpaiguri-New Alipurduar route. They informed railway officials. A team of officers from the Jaldapara National Park also went to the spot.
“Usually, wild animals, mostly elephants, were hit by trains on the Dooars tracks (that connect Siliguri Junction with Alipurduar Junction). The New Jalpaiguri-New Alipurduar route is far from the forest and it is rare for wild animals to stray here and get hit by trains,” said a forester.
Sources said if a train hit a wild animal, the loco pilot informed the nearest station about it. “But no such information was passed to any station along the route,” a source said. Senior foresters said they were waiting for the post-mortem report.
“If it is found that the gaur died after being hit by a train, we will file a police complaint,” said Deepak M, divisional forest officer of Jaldapara wildlife division.
The railway authorities too, are conducting an inquiry.