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THERE is bad news from the country’s
lone mangrove forest area in the southeastern parts of Bangladesh
along the coastal belt of the Bay of Bengal. News reports have
appeared in a section of the national press to the effect that forest
resources, including the wildlife, along the area are dwindling
inexorably and fast owing to the actions of some profit-hungry
businessmen and traders-with strong, if questionable, links with
elements across the border.
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One of the largest mangrove forests of
today’s world, the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, has a total area of
5,772.85 square kilometres. Of this, nearly 70 per cent (4,106.85)
square kilometres comprise forest lands. The remaining lands comprise
water bodies like rivers, canals and channels.
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Authentic books have it that tiger, the
largest member of the cat family, lives mostly in Asia and belongs to
the same genus as the lion, leopard and the jaguar. Two major
sub-species are the Siberian (Amur) tiger and what is commonly known
as the Indian Royal Bengal tiger. The modern tiger is thought to have
originated from northern Asia during the Pleistocene epoch (1.6
million to 10,000 years ago).
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Spread southward thereafter, crossing the
Himalayas only about 10,000 years ago, the Royal Bengal tiger, which
is about three meters (10 feet) long, including the tail, and usually
weighs 180 to 250 kilograms (400 to 569 pounds), is found on the
mainland of southeastern Asia and in central and southern India. Its
coat lies flatter than that of the Siberian tiger, the tawny colour is
richer and the stripes are darker, books point out.
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The tiger is usually a solitary animal,
males and females coming together only at mating time, to share a
kill, or, to drink and rest at watery holes in areas with limited
water. Tigers are very good swimmers, often taking to the waters to
cool off. The litter numbers one to six cubs, which are helpless when
born and stay with the mother into their second year. Only one or two
of the cubs survive the first two years of their lives.
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The diet of the Royal Bengal tiger is
varied, ranging from deer to cattle to frogs and fish; carrion is also
eaten. Tigers hunt at night, stalking their prey before they pounce.
They use their sharp retractable claws to grasp their quarry and their
strong teeth to deliver a fatal bite to the neck.
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The Royal Bengal tiger inhabits grassy or
swampy areas and forests, where it is well camouflaged by its
colouration. Tigers are territorial and the male’s large territory
includes the territories of two females. These tigers, especially the
Royal Bengal tigers, are an endangered species today.
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Environmentalists and tiger watchers have
launched quite a few movements for saving the tiger around the world.
These activists have repeatedly pointed out that their numbers have
dwindled because of heavy human predation-they are hunted for skin
bones (thought to have healing powers in Chinese medicine)-and habitat
destruction. The estimated world population of tigers in wild ranges
between 4,000 and 5,000.
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News reports have been appearing on the
pages of national dailies for last few years expressing concerns of
relevant and responsible circles, especially about the endangered
wildlife species of the great Sundarbans. It has been reported that a
section of the local people in collusion with forest department
personnel are involved in ‘hunting’ wildlife species with the aim
of selling their skin at lucrative prices to ‘traders’ of unknown
origins.
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Environmentalists of the country, who
usually attach the utmost importance to the cause of existence of
adequate greenery and vegetation for the sake of ecological balance of
a given region or a country, have time and again expressed concern at
what appears like ‘free-style plundering’ of forest resources by a
section of corrupt people in collaboration with the forest officials
and lower-ranking staffers. A section of these elements have got
involved in hunting the prized Royal Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans.
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According to unofficial sources, the size
of the Royal Bengal tiger population in the Sundarbans has touched the
level of 400 only, with as many as 40 tigers, on an average, being
killed in the area annually. The environment and forest minister of
the erstwhile government had told the seventh parliament that the
number of tigers in the Sundarbans area happened to be 362. Tisa
McGregor, a British specialist, estimated the population of tigers in
the Sundarbans in the neighbourhood of 200 in the year 1999.
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The annual rate of ‘destruction’ of
the tiger population of the Sundarbans was reported in a joint
planning report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and
the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in the year 2000. Had this
estimate been true and accurate, then the Sundarbans would have become
almost tiger-less by now.
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One estimate shows that the total world
population of the Royal Bengal tiger is in the region of 7000 only.
The authorities concerned are yet to take adequate measures to save
the forest resources and wildlife population of the area, even though
the Sundarbans have been declared as one of the ‘World Heritage
Sites’.
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Yet another estimate says that the
‘corrupt’ elements in and around the Sundarbans have killed at
least 650 Royal Bengal tigers during the last one decade. Local people
have also pointed out that corrupt elements were also out to make the
tiger population totally extinct because of the fact that tiger skin,
limbs and bones usually fetch lucrative amounts, including part of
them in the shape of foreign exchange. The price of a piece of tiger
skin is said to be in the neighbourhood of Tk. Four to Tk. Six lakhs.
It is gathered that the flesh of tiger is also sold at attractive
prices to people who produce sex stimulants at home and abroad.
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Whatever is the size of tiger population
on the Bangladesh side of the Sundarbans, it is half the number of
those still alive in the Indian part of the Sundarbans-although the
size of the former is twice as big as that of the latter. A large
segment of the Sundarbans has already been rendered deforested by the
local people, who have been bringing increasing portions of the
forestland under cultivation. These areas that formed parts of the
deep forests 12 years ago have now been turned into human settlements
and cultivable lands through deliberate, human actions.
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Local people tend to hold the officers and
staffers responsible for this inexorable process of deforestation of
the Sundarbans at the present, incredibly fast rate. Locals also hint
that lower level staffers and the forestry department officials have
to earn money through questionable means, because they usually get
their postings on payment of huge sums of money to appropriate
authorities. Once getting their, postings at the ‘El Dora do’-the
land of fabulous riches-they try their best to retrieve their already
made investments.
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The destroyers of the tiger population and
the forest resources of the Sundarbans, however, are quite afraid of
the ferocious Royal Bengal tiger, but for whose existence many more of
the rare species of the animals of the Sundarbans would have been
totally extinct by now.
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Most of the rainforest animals are adapted
to live in the trees. The clawed feet of iguanas and lizards enable
them to climb trees in search of food. Many flying animals, such as
birds, bats and insects are found in these forests. About 200 species
of mammals are there in Bangladesh-most of whom live in the Sundarbans
area.
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The Sundarbans-literally meaning the
‘forests beautiful’-are more noted as the home of the Royal Bengal
tiger.
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One remembers that two separate projects
styled the Tiger project and the Tiger Project of the Sundarbans had
been adopted with a view to saving Royal Bengal tigers. Both these
projects have remained shelved since long and nobody seems to know
when, if at all, these projects would be taken up again for
implementation.
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Reports showed that at least four tigers
had been killed in the Sundarbans in the year 2000. Staffers of the
forestry department retrieved one tiger skin from inside the forests
that year. Forestry department sources indicated at least 34 tigers
had been killed between 1986 and 1999 in the forest area. These
sources also pointed out that at least seven Royal Bengal tigers had
got killed during the cyclonic storm of November 29 of 1988. Forestry
department sources also underlined the need for speedy, motorised
boats, firearms for the Rangers and staffers, wireless sets and
adequate trained manpower to ensure preservation of wildlife from the
hands of the greedy and powerful but corrupt quarters.
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These steps are all more urgent in view of
the recent reports published by the national dailies, both Bangla and
English. Reports indicate that the Royal Bengal tiger population of
the Sundarbans, which stretches along the south-eastern parts of
Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, is dwindling at a
menacingly fast pace.
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Source: The Financial Express, 11 October, 2001