The Hindu : National : ‘Mourning’ jackals hold up traffic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 09, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

‘Mourning’ jackals hold up traffic

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: Howling jackals, lamenting the loss of two of their pack, forced forest officials to slow down traffic along National Highway 34, near Narayanpur in West Bengal’s Malda district, for nearly 90 minutes on Wednesday evening.

But by the time they managed to control the traffic, the jackals had disappeared into the forests.

On Tuesday evening, a jackal was killed and another injured at the spot, knocked down by passing vehicles. The staff from the local forest division arrived at the spot, nearly 14 km from Malda, to prevent further casualties among the pack that came there after sundown looking for the missing jackals.

The howls of the pack rent the evening air when it failed to locate the missing beasts.

“It was as if the jackals were mourning the missing animals,” Rajendra Jakhar, Divisional Forest Officer, told The Hindu over telephone on Thursday.

“Though traffic along the highway [that connects south Bengal to the north] was not disrupted, vehicles were asked to slow down. The jackal pack could return to continue its search,” he said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National