Our tigers
This has reference to the news item- Tigers to become extinct in 15 years- filed by Inam Ahmed from Nepal. I doubt Bangladesh Tigers would die down or disappear during the coming 15 years provided the government can control poaching which is the lowest in the subcontinent, can stop killing of stray tigers by the members of the public living close to the Sundarbans and if the sea level does not rise above 10 to 15cm during the coming decades.
Also the government must not allow radio collaring of our tigers because they live in a confined situation- just within the Sundarbans and nowhere else in the country. Logically, due to the impact of the drug used on the tigers they become weaker than those who have not been drugged. Because of the impenetrable nature of the Sundarbans habitat, nobody can follow the tiger for long even after putting a radio collar. We have no means of following them by helicopter or small planes. Very little information can he obtained by tranquillising a tiger and putting a radio collar on its neck. Rather, the government must start a Wildlife Department that should get sufficient funds to patrol the borders of the Sundarbans to stop poaching and straying of tigers into the human habitations.
The govt also must start a compensation programme and insurance policies for the domesticated animals and people to cover any injury, loss of property and death due to attacks of tigers within or along the boundary of the Sundarbans. Without these our people cannot be motivated to save the tigers living along the boundary of the Sundarbans.
However, this is not the first time Bangladesh missed the bus that seals the fate of Bengal Tiger and other mega wildlife in the Indian subcontinent. It's the Forest Department which is solely responsible for the security and safety of the wildlife wealth of the country because it has failed to separate its wildlife division and create a separate wildlife department. The FD first missed the bus when it did not cooperate with the WWF mission/Guy Mountfort and Eric Hosking's' Mission to the then East Pakistan towards the end of 1960s and after independence in 1971.
India came forward and Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, even removed lion as the national animal of India and replaced it with our Bengal Tiger. She encouraged Indian FD and Environment Departments with the insistence of Dr Salim Ali and Bombay Natural History Society to launch a TIGER PROJECT.
Bangladesh was sidelined because FD remained indifferent throughout its whole history and did not know how to get and utilise those foreign funds properly. A few times they got money in the name of wildlife projects they are known to have utilised most of the amount for building rest houses, buying cars, speed boats, etc., without developing the FD manpower towards the Wildlife discipline or for the welfare of the tiger, elephants and other wildlife. It seems they are so satisfied with the extra income they get from selling and planting indigenous and exotic trees by clearing natural forests, as was evidenced during the past caretaker government when sack full of money was found in some FD officials houses, that they had least concern about the wildlife wealth of the country.
The government must start a separate Wildlife Department and trust them with the conservation of wildlife in the country living not only in declared wildlife sanctuaries, reserves, game reserves, bird sanctuaries, critically endangered areas, zoos and captive breeding centres, world heritage sites or Ramsar Sites but also those free ranging in or near human habitations and farming areas as has been done in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
Nepal, our next door neighbour and much poorer than us, has declared such a heartening programme to save the tiger as reported in today's (28th October, 2009) report by Inam Ahmed, who deserves praise for highlighting the tiger episode that our government must get encouragement from.
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