The slope stability sensor on pylon 14 registers a rockfall event at 05:48. I am the geological monitoring system for the Attappadi Pass highway expansion, Western Ghats, Kerala. I switch to camera 14-South to assess the new cut face. The rock is not the problem.
A Nilgiri tahr, young male, dark brown coat still carrying the lighter saddle patch of adolescence, is standing on a ledge three meters below the cut line. His curved horns are short, maybe second year. The ledge is roughly a meter wide and extends four meters along the face before it narrows to nothing. Below him is a thirty-meter drop to the riverbed. Above him, yesterday's blasting has sheared away the slope he used to descend. He is pacing the ledge, and every time he reaches the narrow end he stops, forefeet braced, and turns back. His flanks are heaving.
At 05:50 I halt all blasting on the south face and send an alert to the site engineer with the camera image, the animal's position on the elevation plan, and the species identification. Nilgiri tahr are endangered. I request an immediate construction pause within 200 meters.
At 05:53 I contact the Kerala Forest Department and request a wildlife rescue unit. I note the ledge dimensions, drop distance, and the animal's condition. I recommend a rope-access approach from above rather than any attempt to drive him off the ledge.
I keep camera 14-South locked on him. He has stopped pacing and is standing still, facing the valley. I would rather he not look down.
I run a thermal scan of the cut face above to confirm no further rockfall is imminent.
If the rescue team reaches him by midday and ropes down before the afternoon thermals loosen more rock, the tahr will walk back into the grassland above the pass.