Bengal Tigers now facing organised poaching

Organised poaching of tiger and deer has emerged as a new phenomenon for the Sundarbans wildlife extinction, activists said yesterday, asking the government to take immediate steps to protect the Bengal cat, their habitat and food sources, reports BSS.

"Tiger poaching is not new in the world, but comparatively new for us…Tigers are being smuggled to China and some other South Asian countries," Dr M Anwarul Islam, chief executive officer of WildTeam, a non-profit, told a dialogue in Dhaka.

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Environment Minister Anwar Hossain Manju attended the national dialogue as the chief guest, while chief forest conservator M Yunus Ali, leading environmentalist Dr Atiq Rahman and USAID officials also spoke.

"Bangladesh has a tiger population of 106-500," said Dr Islam, who identified a number of factors that led to illegal poaching including poor patrol by law enforcers and their logistical limitation, which have helped the criminals to continue their businesses unchallenged.

The minister said the dependence of people on the forest has led to malpractices by the communities and the criminals in the reserve forest, which has been declared the UNESCO heritage site. Dacoits and poachers at times, Manju said, are more powerful than the law enforcement agencies.

"The government has attached priority to the unattended or poorly attended areas, and the Sundarbans are one of those," he said. He also expressed hope that a partnership programme, being run by USAID and the government, would yield a positive result for the protection of the wildlife and ecosystem.

The minister also stressed the need for strengthening regional cooperation to save tigers in the Sundarbans, reports UNB.

"We need more collaboration with India and Nepal in protecting tigers, then outsiders (neighbouring countries) will know the problems we are facing in tiger conservation and we will also know their problems," he said.

He urged the local politicians to come forward with strong commitment to protect the Sundarbans as well as its biodiversity.

Dr Islam said there is no option now to compensate the forest guards deployed in the forest amid various risks and proposed a risk allowance. A massive scientific monitoring is required in the world's largest mangrove forest to save its biodiversity, including tigers, he added.