Patient sloth bear waits for vehicles to pass before crossing road in India

Footage shows a patient sloth bear waiting for vehicles to pass by before crossing a road in Chandrapur, India, on January 2.

Vikrant Wankhade, a wildlife biologist, saw a sloth bear running parallel to the Chandrapur-Mul road.

Sensing that animal was anxious to cross the road, Vikrant, who works for Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), stopped his vehicle at a distance and kept watch.

The bear hid in the bushes for some time and patiently waited for the vehicles to pass. When the road was clear, it hopped across.

A study released in April 2018 had counted that 161 animals had been killed crossing roads in a span of just 28 days.

Anish Andheria, the president of WCT, said: “The sloth bear crossed the road successfully, however, despite being watchful, it may not be so lucky the next time. Animals do not understand that they should look both ways when crossing a road or that not all vehicles move in the same direction or at the same speed.

“Further, as night falls, a simple act of road crossing becomes a nightmare as headlights of vehicles have a blinding effect on wildlife. At night, animals cannot estimate the distance between themselves and an approaching vehicle because they are blinded as soon as they look into the headlight.

“Roads and railways, when built in the wrong place or built without necessary mitigation measures such as underpasses or overpasses for wildlife, have greater negative ramifications on wildlife than poaching,” he said.

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