Food Crisis, Other Problems in Sundarbans
Villagers kill six tigers in 11 yrs
Royal Bengal Tigers that are forced to enter human habitations due mainly to food crisis in the Sundarbans often meet tragic end in the hand of panicked villagers. STAR FILE PHOTO
At least six Royal Bengal Tigers were killed in the adjoining areas of the Sundarbans in last 11 years when the wild animal entered localities in search of food. Villagers beat five tigers to death and shot dead another during the period. The tigers could have been saved if forest officials had proper training and tranquillising equipment, said local observers. Food crisis in the Sundarbans forces tigers to enter human habitations as adverse impact of climate change, environment pollution, infiltration of saline water and tidal surges threatens biodiversity of the forest, forest officials said. On January 22, a Royal Bengal Tiger was beaten to death at Abad Chandipur village adjacent to the Sundarbans in Shyamnagar upazila of the district. Earlier, villagers trapped the tiger in a kitchen but forest department officials failed to bring tranquilliser gun after a wait for 10 hours. On June 2 last year, a tiger entered Kholshebunia village in Shyamnagar upazila and attacked villagers, leaving three people injured. Angry people later killed the tiger the same day. On June 20 in 2008, a Royal Bengal Tiger killed three people at Kadamtala village in Shyamnagar upazila. Villagers beat the tiger to death the following morning. Local people killed a tiger at Nalian village in Koira upazila of Khulna December 19 in 2007. On December 12 in 2006, a tiger entered Harinagar village in Shyamnagar upazila and killed two people. The villagers later beat the tiger to death. Mohammad Mohsin, a resident of Datnekhali village of Shyamnagar upazila gunned down a tiger on September 21 in 1999 as the animal entered the village in search of food. Forest guards captured an old tiger on January 25 in 2000 from Harinagar village and sent the animal to Khulna for treatment. But the tiger died while undergoing treatment. Principal Ashek-e-Elahi, an environmental worker, said forest department could easily capture those tigers by using tranquilliser gun and send them back to the Sundarbans. In most of the cases, villagers killed the tigers in presence of law enforcers. The Royal Bengal Tiger will face extinction if the forest department fails to take long-term conservation programmes, said local experts. When contacted, Assistant Conservator of Forest Rejaul Karim said villagers beat the tigers to death before forest guards could reach the spots. He, however, said they could not capture tigers due to lack of tranquilliser guns and skilled manpower.
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