Poachers prowl into Sundarbans for tigers as smugglers make lucrative offers

Tigers getting killed by mobs after encounters with humans have dropped significantly in the Sundarban islands, but poachers continue to hunt the endangered species for lucrative offers made by smugglers.

The Rapid Action Battalion and the Forest Department arrested a smuggler with the hide of a Royal Bengal Tiger, which was hunted in the Sundarbans, in January. After less than three months, four pieces of tiger bones were seized from two foreign nationals at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

Bangladesh is observing the Global Tiger Day on Thursday, an annual observation to raise awareness for tiger conservation. The Day was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia.

A total of 13 countries participated in the summit with an aim to double the number of tigers in 12 years.

Bhutan has already succeeded in doubling the tiger population. India too, saw an increase of 60 percent.

The tiger population in the Bangladesh side of the largest mangrove forest in the world has increased only to 114 in 2018 from 106 in 2014, according to surveys conducted through camera trapping.   

There have been no deaths of tigers after encounter with humans since 2012, except in 2014 and 2015, as the Forest Department and NGOs worked to raise awareness on the issue together, according to Tapan Kumar Dey, a former deputy chief forest conservator. People residing near the forest now call the authorities when they see a tiger.

But still, poaching has remained a problem as people residing near the Sundarbans fall easily for offers made by the smugglers.

Sheetesh Bawali, a fisherman who works in the forest, said the hunters enter the forest in disguise and kill tigers in a number of ways, such as by poisoning food, using sedatives or gunshots.

Then they preserve the skin, flesh and organs by using local taxidermy techniques and supply those to the smugglers in Dhaka and Chattogram.

Sheetesh estimates that more than 150 organised groups of poachers exist in the villages of four ranges of the Sundarbans in Barguna, Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira district.

He heard from the poachers that they get Tk 1 million to Tk 1.2 million for each tiger skin, which is sold abroad at a prohibitive price.

A huge market for tiger organs exists in China for making traditional medicine, shampoo, tonic and other products, said Dey, general secretary at the Geological Society of Bangladesh.

“It'll be hard to save the tigers unless the demand shrinks.”

According to the Forest Department, Myanmar, India and China are the major destinations for smuggling wild animals and their body parts out of Bangladesh. The smugglers use land, water and air routes. The law enforcers and Forest Department have arrested some smugglers while smuggling live animals as well.

Forest officials claimed they have been more active and responsible than before in preserving and protecting the tiger population in the Sundarbans. They have been working in coordination with the locals.

The Forest Department ensures continuous patrolling for the protection of tigers and other animals, said Forest Officer Mohammad Belayet Hossain.

At least 34 stations under seven camps in Bagerhat and Khulna range of the Sundarbans run different programmes to ensure protection of tigers and other animals, he said.

Animal sanctuary in the Sundarbans has been doubled in size, while the authorities are digging ponds for enough supply of drinking water to the animals in the forest.

The Bangladesh government took initiatives to double the number of tigers in the Sundarbans last year, said Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahabuddin.

Habibun Nahar, deputy minister of environment, forest and climate change, blamed a lack of manpower for the failure to stop poaching and smuggling.

“We have more than 2,000 canals in our Sundarbans, but not enough manpower to guard them. We are trying our best to enforce the law with this insufficient manpower,” she said.