Animal intervention ~ lions block the road

Roads are too congested – you have to co-exist with all sort of movements – people walking on road, talking on mobile, blissfully unaware of the surroundings; two wheelers [cycles are not found these days]; the 3 wheeled auto-rickshaws; transport corporation buses; cars and more……… we jostle for place and there is no peace.  Every day life in cities…

In Motor Claims, you could often have read – animal intervention as one of the most occurring  causes.  When speeding on a road, a stray dog, a cattle could suddenly dart across; in Arab Countries it could be a Camel – the man on wheel would instantaneously swerve resulting in a serious accidents.  They say, that the best way is to reduce the speed, try and stop the vehicle and move towards the animal itself rather than changing the course suddenly !  ~ but reaction of the man at wheel cannot be driven by logic or wisdom… [women at wheel is far different story ?]

Read of a road accident in Saudi Arabia at Al Qahtani, 850 km off Jeddah where 4 Bangladeshi citizens were killed in a road accident.  Newspapers reported that the accident occurred when the human hauler carrying the victims tried to avoid a camel on the road.  There was some discussion on decision to link compensation payments for accidents in Iran, putting Insurers in mortal fear – because  of the concept of  "blood money" for relatives of fatal road accident victims  related to  equal the price of 100 camels.

Although there is no link for human compensation to the value of animals, in USA, it could be intervention of deers and dogs;   down under in Australia, it could be Wallabies and Kangaroos. Such animal intervention causes loss of life of animals, damage to vehicles and injuries and sometimes fatal accidents to the occupants of the automobiles also. 

Often people go on Safaris wishing to see animals in their natural surroundings…… there could be times when you return much disappointed in not being able to spot any….. depends on the place – Africa is different.  Have heard of Masai Mara, the large game reserve in Kenya  contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Mara Region, Tanzania.  These places are globally famous for their  exceptional population of lions, leopards and cheetahs, the annual migration of zebra, Thomson's gazelle, and other wild animals.

Recently, read about this interesting story in Daily Mail of two lions bringing rush-hour traffic to a standstill in Nairobi, Kenya when they decided to have a lie down in the middle the street.  This reportedly occurred on the the edge of the Nairobi National Park.  The newsitem states that cars began to pile up as the two male lions claimed the road for their own in the middle of the busy commuter hour. The animals showed complete disregard to the traffic trying to get around them as they lay down on the street; being Kenya, the commuters remained patiently watching the scene till the lions left the road. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

Photos courtesy : www.dailymail.co.uk