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Wednesday, 8 September 2010

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Government (Issued on : 8th February , 2010)

BD News24

Tiger-human encounters, deaths on the rise

Encounters between humans and wild tigers are on the rise in Bangladesh, as the critically endangered big cat roams more frequently from the Sundarbans into nearby human habitation, leading to greater numbers of deaths too on both sides.

According to the department of environment, tigers have wandered into human settlements 231 times in the last two years, killing 51 people and 36 cattle. The latest victim of a tiger attack was a woodcutter in Satkhira district, who died on Saturday.

At least five tigers, of which there are just a few hundred remaining in the wild in Bangladesh, were also killed by humans during the same period.

Forest conservator Tapan Kumar Dey told bdnews24.com that deaths by attacks from tigers are the highest in Bangladesh.

He said 193 people were killed by tigers from 2000 to 2009 while 23 tigers lost their lives by straying into human habitats during the same period.

Some forest officials, however, said on condition of anonymity the number of tigers killed in human ancounters were at least 30.

Besides, an unknown number of tiger deaths have been caused by poachers and smugglers, they said.

Once tigers abounded in almost all the forests of Bangladesh but they are now confined to the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest in south-west Bangladesh.

According to wild life experts, only five out of eight species of tigers, including the renowned Royal Bengal Tiger, are alive in Bangladesh now.

Chief executive of Wildlife Trust professor Anwarul Islam said the tiger is facing threat of extinction due to deforestation and random poaching.

Loss of habitats, natural disasters, rise in water salinity, lack of food and illegal poaching contribute to the diminishing of tiger population, he said.

During a training course for forest officials and employees of the Sundarbans on January 25, state minister for forest and environment Hasan Mahmud said a tiger census would be conducted soon to determine their number.

According to the forest and environment ministry, at present there are 400-450 tigers in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, which accounts for 6,000 out of the total 10,000 sq kilometers area.

The number of tigers was 350 in 1975, 425 in 1982, 359 in 1992, and 362 in 1993.

On a global scale, there were 100,000 tigers in the world in 1900, while the current available figure is estimated at just 3,200.

Apart from Bangladesh, tigers are also found in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Bhutan, Nepal and Russia.

Wildlife expert and emeritus professor Jakir Hossain of Dhaka University told bdnews24.com that hunting tiger was a popular sport as recently as fifty years ago when people would be honoured with awards for killing them. "But not anymore… nowadays people get awards for saving tigers."

Mankind must develop love for tigers and save them from extinction, he said.

Citing the reason for tigers' intrusion into human settlement, he said, old tigers sometimes enter the human settlement due to disorientation.

Hossain said tigers must be driven back to their habitats if they enter human settlement either for food or after losing their path.

He also said that humans must change their mentality and not kill tigers unnecessarily.

In a research report published recently, World Wildlife Forum warned that the Sundarbans might lose some of its parts with the rising of sea level due to global warming.

As a result, the number of tigers in Bangladesh might be reduced to 20 by the year 2070, the WWF forecast.

There are allegations that some organised groups of poachers are involved in smuggling tiger and deer skins to foreign countries, although chief forest ranger Abdul Mutalib said there was no international route for smugglers in the Sundarbans.

He also said a tiger came to human locality at Gabkhali through the Baleshwar river on January 26 but it was driven back to the woods.

He is optimistic that the rate of man-tiger encounters would reduce gradually.