Wildlife in peril
Some suggestions
Very recently a leopard stepped into a forest side locality to its peril
Elected government bodies in the past have always rested the responsibility of the wildlife management and conservation in the country on the shoulders of the Forest Department and thought they had done their duties. But the net result has been that we do not have a single piece of forest be that in the Sundarbans or elsewhere in the country, in the Shal Forest belt or Mixed-Evergreen Forest belt in the erstwhile Chittagong Hill Tracts region that can be considered virgin. The reason is simple. Government wants revenue from the forest department. This department cuts the trees and provides revenue to the exchequer. Often it does it in such a clever manner that in addition to the national coffer some of its officials also stashed money in their pillow cases as was revealed during the past caretaker government. So, what do we see today? As FD has failed to save the forest there is virtually no wildlife in the Madhupur National Park excepting a few troops of Leaf Monkey and Rhesus Macaque that numbered over a 1000 each during the 1970s, even after our independence in 1971. All large cats completely disappeared from the Shal and Mixed evergreen forests. Same is the fate of the Spotted Chital or Deer. Even the Hoolock Gibbon and Stump-tailed Macaque that used to be present in the Garo Hill areas of the old Jamalpur district are gone completely. Bengal Tiger -- our national pride -- has been wiped out from the whole country barring the Sundarbans -- which is a natural imprisonment for such a lovely beast. People are afraid of its survival because this tiger population is genetically isolated from all the other tigers of the world. Sundarbans was never a natural abode of tigers. Beyond our and Indian Sundarbans the tiger is not known to live in mangrove or coastal forest. Lack of freshwater is forcing this creature to drink saltwater and also prey on species like the fishes. Any tiger stepping out of the forest is being killed by the villagers, even sometimes right in the presence of the FD officials. So, FD cannot say what are the impacts of all these on our national animal because it has initiated no research on its own during the past 37 years or so. The whole of mixed evergreen forest ranging from the greater Sylhet district through Khagrachhari, Bandarban, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Rangamati has become virtual a wildlife desert. Even in many areas we see more countryside animals (birds) like the crow and common or pied mynas than the naturally occurring Hill Myna, Hornbills, etc. Round the world zoos have been and are being established for exhibiting, breeding, propagating and knowledge dissemination on wild animals and some plants. But just opposite is happening in our Dhaka Zoo. Here it seems it has no apparent aim or target, no public relations nor educational activities and no releasing back of national wild animals. It has also banned visitors from carrying cameras with them. This is possibly the only zoo in the world that does not allow photography inside the zoo. The zoo authorities seem ready to spend crores of taka to buy African animals that die within a few months of import but not ready to spend a farthing to procure and exhibit endangered local animals that are still present in our wilderness. Perhaps none of the zoos in the country has exhibits that can be considered as up to international standard. The central or national zoo at Dhaka cannot provide you with even a brochure telling how many or what animals they have. In the name of Safari Park wildly animals have been virtually imprisoned in Dulahazra, Madhupur and other places. Even the so-called eco-parks are nothing more than picnic sites that have been walled or fenced up. In many countries tourism is based on wildlife or biodiversity hotspots. However, in our country tourism means constructing buildings, compounds, clubs and golf courses, etc., spending crores of taka and generating little or no revenue. MOEF spent nearly 16 crore taka to build some red buildings at the most fragile and the narrowest segment -- the Golacpahipa -- area of the St Martin Island during the early 2000s. Of these, the three windmill built at a cost of about 3 crore taka, have already disappeared. This monstrous site has never been opened officially and during 2007-2008 it was said to have been rented out to tourists by a private individual. So-called botanical garden in Mirpur appears to be a place full of miscreants. Even you are not safe to watch birds. So, you can forget about visiting it with your family. The botanical garden has not even collected representative plant species from three distinct types of forests we have in the country. No educational material available in the park either. After a long time it seems our present Prime Minister has picked up an energetic team of dedicated people to run the present government. I urge upon her to create a -- -Separate Wildlife Department -- following examples in Sri Lanka and Malaysia -- and at par with the existing Environment and Forest Departments. -Let the government hand over all declared and proposed wildlife sanctuaries, bird sanctuaries, ecologically critical areas, national parks, game reserves, eco-parks, safaris, botanical and zoological gardens or zoos to this new department for management. -Re-enact a modified version of the Bangladesh Wildlife Preservation Act of 1974 incorporating parts of Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act, and form Wildlife and Zoo Advisory Committees under it. -Let the new Department run the sustainable management of the wildlife of the country and not only that in the government forests but also that spread all over the country, from Teknaf to Tetulia and Kaptai lake to the swatch of no ground in the Bay of Bengal, along with exotic animal and plant collections kept in various institutions following standards maintained by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sri Lankan and Malaysian Wildlife Departments. I am sure both zoos and wildlife management could be made profitable through efficient public awareness campaign, publicity, aggressive marketing of the by-products and wildlife tourism, allowing national and international teams to make films or documentaries and letting people and business houses to sponsor animals, plants or programmes. This in turn could ensure sustainable management of the wildlife in the country and encourage members of the public in defending their natural heritage.
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