In a nail-biting footage that's doing the rounds on social media, a pair of motorcyclists who took a forest road near Kerala-Karnataka border had a close brush with death after a tiger emerged from the woods and sprinted after them.?
According to a Bangalore Mirror report, the two bikers took precarious forest road at Muthanga forest range which is close to the Bandipur forest. The Bandipur forest connects Karnataka to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This road is also very close to the Nagarhole National Park.
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The National park is home to about 110 tigers and they are pretty territorial and, of course, like this big cat, have no qualms in making it to the highway to take a human by the neck!?
The video was captured by two forest officials on a bike as they journeyed down a road. All of a sudden the big cat, which could run at around 40mph, almost as fast as the bike, appeared from the woodland. The only way they survived increasing the speed of the bike.
Take a look at the video below:?
For a lot of us, the very sight of a tiger can be unnerving, but these brave men, kept up their speed without wavering and even managed to film something in the moment of panic, that takes a lot of courage.?
The tiger came dangerously close to the bikers, before disappearing into the forest. Reports state that bikers prefer to take the Bandipur route to travel to Ooty in Tamil Nadu or to get to Wayanad in Kerala.?
"Bikes are not allowed inside the Nagrhole forest. It's better not to travel on bikes in forest areas Cars and other four vehicles can give some protection that bikes can't," wildlife? activist S Manjunath told the Bangalore Mirror.
But despite repeated warnings bikers still seem to take this dangerous route, just like this case, at the risk of being mauled by a big cat. Praveen Kumar, another wild life enthusiast said that it best not? to ever venture o the Nagarhole road on bikes.?
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However, this incident has not really forced forest officials to impose a ban on bikes on the route.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest told the daily that it wasn't a wise call to ban bikes completely and that it's also 'impractical' to do so.?
Nagarhole became a National Park in 1983 and, together with Bandipur National Park, Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary and the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, is one of the last remaining and best protected habitats for endangered species.?
For quiet sometime now, the?sanctuary come to turn into a place where animals are under threat from urbanization. The land that belongs to animals is very quickly being encroached upon by humans.?
Recent reports state that there are around 110 tigers over 643 sq km of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve area. While tiger population shooting up is a good sign but it has it's own disadvantages, in terms of human-wildlife conflict.?