NEWS reports in several national dailies said the Royal Bengal Tigers in the Sundarbans are facing extinction. There has been a sharp decline of the tiger population to only 106 in the Bangladesh part of the Sunderbans now as against 440 tigers recorded in a previous survey in 2004 carried out jointly by UNDP and the Department of Forest.
How 334 tigers disappeared over 10 years is a big question and wild-life watchers wonder how the government would explain the massive disappearance of the Royal Bengal Tigers. The question is whether they were poached and killed or they have left for the Indian part of the Sundarbans as they have increasingly become vulnerable to human movements and commercial construction activities around the mangrove forest.
The disclosure of the sharp fall in tiger population emerged from a recently held survey using camera trapping and other enumeration methods. The disclosure came as a shock to many without credible reasons behind it. The decline in the Royal Bengal Tiger population is an un-thought of development. But the government has largely remained indifferent to take measures for their protection despite calls from various environmentalists groups and wild-life watchers. Conservationists fear that the construction of coal fired Rampal Power Plant and growing river vessel traffic movements are going to be greater threats to the Royal Bengal Tiger population in the unfolding situation. One can’t understand when the government is committed to increase the tiger population to 200 under the Global Tiger Recovery Programme, its number has only plunged which suggests that the government has not taken any effective measures to give the tigers a safe sanctuary to live in and re-procreate the tiger population. Question now arises how the depletion was so fast.
As per professional reports many tiger species are dying now at an alarming rate because of human intervention in the deep forest. Habitat loss to the Royal Bengal Tigers and degradation of forest sanctuary are endangering them. Consequently many Royal Bengal Tigers from Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans have, perhaps, migrated to the West Bengal part depleting our reserves.
In our view, time is running fast to conserve whatever number of Royal Bengal Tigers still exists in the Sundarbans and a high powered committee with competent conservationists and environmentalists may be set up to work out a plan and advise the government to save the Royal Bengal Tigers. The big cats must be given the safety from poachers in right environment so that they feel protected and increase baby tiger population.
Meanwhile, manmade threats to the Sundarbans like commercial river trafficking through the tigers heart land and noisy activities must be held in check which are destroying peaceful environment in the forest. There is also the need to relocate Rampal Power Plant before it becomes a big threat. We may set up many Rampal power plants, but the depletion of the Sundarbans and its tiger population can’t be recreated.
