NAGPUR: Four months after the Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Mahamarg was thrown open, monkeys are among the most vulnerable wild species to be knocked dead on the e-way. But this newborn baby was among the luckiest ones to survive though her mother succumbed to critical injuries.
On Saturday morning, ambulance driver Kiran Ashok Suryawanshi (42) and his friend Vickky Pathan (44) from Nashik, who were returning from Odissa, witnessed an emotional drama near the Wardha toll check-post on the expressway where a baby monkey was trying to wake up its mother critically injured in a road hit.
"After driving 1,450km to Odissa and returning to Nashik, I was exhausted and felt sleepy. I stopped the vehicle near a toll booth and rested. Around 7am, when I woke up, I saw a speeding car coming from the opposite direction hitting a monkey crossing the road," said Suryawanshi.
"We crossed over to the other side and found that the baby was trying to wake up its mother by clinging to her chest. Unable to stand, the mother pushed the baby, perhaps to convey that she won't be alive," said Suryawanshi.
"The condition of the monkey was getting critical and without wasting time, I lifted the baby and placed the monkey in a wrapper we had in our ambulance. We got numbers of the forest personnel from the toll booth and and called them," said Suryawanshi.
When the duo reached another toll booth, the foresters suggested shifting the monkey and the baby to People For Animals (PFA)-run 'Karunaashram' at Pipri (Meghe). Suryavanshi took the monkey and the baby to the PFA centre which was 3-4km from the toll booth.
PFA member Kaustubh Gawande said, "The mother monkey was critical and succumbed to the injuries while undergoing treatment. The baby did not suffer even a scratch but was in shock that its mother was no more. Wildlife veterinarian Dr Sandeep Joge has been emotionally treating the baby."
Talking about the teddy bear which replicates the mother, Gawande said, "The baby plays with the teddy and drinks milk. It is a female and as it grows, it needs to be reunited with its natural habitat."
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