Prof ABM Mosharraf Husain, Bagerhat :
‘The World Tiger Day’ was observed in the different countries including Bangladesh on July 29.
The Day was also observed in the port town of Mongla, adjacent to Sundarbans in Bagerhat district on the same day through different programmes but in this connection there is no god news for Bangladesh as the number of Royal Bengal tigers in Sundarbans is gradually diminishing.
According to a statistic, some 50 Royal Bengal tigers were beaten to death by the inhabitants of the villagers, adjacent to Sundarbans when they (tigers) entered the villages in the last 18 years (during the period from 2000 to 2018).
On the other hand, during the same period as many as 232 villagers were killed by the Royal Bengal tigers. Lastly on January 23, 2018, a tiger was beaten to death by the angry people of Gulishakhali village near at Jewdhara forest office under Sharankhola Forest Range in the Eastern Division of Sundarbans when it entered into the village and fatally injured some villagers. The main reason behind the killing of tigers is unconsciousness of the people and the negligence of the Forest Department.
On the other hand, the reasons behind the entrance of tigers in the adjacent human habitations are hostile environment, natural calamities and scarcity of food. Consequently, the number of tigers is gradually reduced in Sundarbans. The IUCN of the UNO declared the tiger as an endangered animal and enlisted it in the red list.
According to the counting report of tigers of Sundarbans in year of 1982 was 453, in the year 2004 were 440 and in the year 2015 were 106 only.
President of Sub-management committee of Chandpai forest range told, tigers enter forest-adjacent villages such as Joymoni, Baydymari, Amarbunia, Gulishakhali, Banshtala very often. As a result, the villagers are in great troubles. Their lives are in great risks. Their domestic animals are occasionally killed or fatally injured by the tigers of the forest.
UP member Waliur Rahman of village Joymoni told, for lack of consciousness villagers regarding the tigers as their enemies and beat them to death. According to him, there is lacking of natural food in the forest and that is why the tigers enter the forest very often in search of food. The UP member thinks that steps should be taken to create natural food in the forest for tigers. At the same time steps should be taken to stop the easy and free entrance of the people to the forest. In this respect a policy should be made immediately.
Alamgir, team leader of village tiger response team told, when the tigers enter the villages the team with the villagers’ assistance drives them (tigers) back to the forest. He added, we have so far driven a good number of wild animals including tigers back to the forest.
Madinul Islam, Khulna Divisional Forest Officer (wild animals) told, due to a number of reasons a tiger may enter the human habitations.
One cause is that when a tiger is matured it requires a definite territory for its movement. The second cause is that when a tiger becomes old it may enter the human habitations in order to get food easily. He added, no survey was done so far to ascertain the availability of food in the forest. So, it cannot be said that there is shortage of food in the forest.
It may be mentioned here that the major portion of Sharankhola and Chandpai forest ranges within the Eastern Division of Sundarbans are separated from the human habitations by the rivers dead Bhola and Kharma. Both the rivers are now silted up.
So, at the time of low tided tiger and other wild animals of the forest can easily enter the human habitations by crossing the silted rivers.
It is learnt from a reliable source that a proposal was sent to the higher authorities by the forest department to protect the forest from the easy entrance of the villagers to the forest and at the same time to check the easy entrance of tigers and other wild animals of the forest to the human habitations by erecting bar bade fencings. But that proposal was not materialized.
‘The World Tiger Day’ was observed in the different countries including Bangladesh on July 29.
The Day was also observed in the port town of Mongla, adjacent to Sundarbans in Bagerhat district on the same day through different programmes but in this connection there is no god news for Bangladesh as the number of Royal Bengal tigers in Sundarbans is gradually diminishing.
According to a statistic, some 50 Royal Bengal tigers were beaten to death by the inhabitants of the villagers, adjacent to Sundarbans when they (tigers) entered the villages in the last 18 years (during the period from 2000 to 2018).
On the other hand, during the same period as many as 232 villagers were killed by the Royal Bengal tigers. Lastly on January 23, 2018, a tiger was beaten to death by the angry people of Gulishakhali village near at Jewdhara forest office under Sharankhola Forest Range in the Eastern Division of Sundarbans when it entered into the village and fatally injured some villagers. The main reason behind the killing of tigers is unconsciousness of the people and the negligence of the Forest Department.
On the other hand, the reasons behind the entrance of tigers in the adjacent human habitations are hostile environment, natural calamities and scarcity of food. Consequently, the number of tigers is gradually reduced in Sundarbans. The IUCN of the UNO declared the tiger as an endangered animal and enlisted it in the red list.
According to the counting report of tigers of Sundarbans in year of 1982 was 453, in the year 2004 were 440 and in the year 2015 were 106 only.
President of Sub-management committee of Chandpai forest range told, tigers enter forest-adjacent villages such as Joymoni, Baydymari, Amarbunia, Gulishakhali, Banshtala very often. As a result, the villagers are in great troubles. Their lives are in great risks. Their domestic animals are occasionally killed or fatally injured by the tigers of the forest.
UP member Waliur Rahman of village Joymoni told, for lack of consciousness villagers regarding the tigers as their enemies and beat them to death. According to him, there is lacking of natural food in the forest and that is why the tigers enter the forest very often in search of food. The UP member thinks that steps should be taken to create natural food in the forest for tigers. At the same time steps should be taken to stop the easy and free entrance of the people to the forest. In this respect a policy should be made immediately.
Alamgir, team leader of village tiger response team told, when the tigers enter the villages the team with the villagers’ assistance drives them (tigers) back to the forest. He added, we have so far driven a good number of wild animals including tigers back to the forest.
Madinul Islam, Khulna Divisional Forest Officer (wild animals) told, due to a number of reasons a tiger may enter the human habitations.
One cause is that when a tiger is matured it requires a definite territory for its movement. The second cause is that when a tiger becomes old it may enter the human habitations in order to get food easily. He added, no survey was done so far to ascertain the availability of food in the forest. So, it cannot be said that there is shortage of food in the forest.
It may be mentioned here that the major portion of Sharankhola and Chandpai forest ranges within the Eastern Division of Sundarbans are separated from the human habitations by the rivers dead Bhola and Kharma. Both the rivers are now silted up.
So, at the time of low tided tiger and other wild animals of the forest can easily enter the human habitations by crossing the silted rivers.
It is learnt from a reliable source that a proposal was sent to the higher authorities by the forest department to protect the forest from the easy entrance of the villagers to the forest and at the same time to check the easy entrance of tigers and other wild animals of the forest to the human habitations by erecting bar bade fencings. But that proposal was not materialized.
