Tougher law needed to protect Royal Bengal tigers

30 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Unb, Dhaka

The world has witnessed the loss of more than 97,000 tigers over the last 100 years. Today, specialists say there are less than 3000 tigers in 14 countries. If it took 100 years for 97,000 tigers to be extirpated, one may easily imagine how much, or rather how little time, it might take for the remaining 3000 to disappear. Thus the tiger population today is on the verge of extinction. According to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, there are some 2,100 Royal Bengal tigers alive today, of which India alone has 1,411. Bangladesh Sundarbans is the home of the largest single unit of Royal Bengal tigers in the world with an estimated 300-500 tigers. Bangladesh, therefore, has an opportunity to contribute significantly to the conservation of tigers and to benefit from their continued presence. However, tigers are threatened in Bangladesh due to direct loss, prey depletion, and habitat degradation. To reverse the situation, the country needs a tougher law in the vein of what the Union Environment and Forests Ministry of India is now proposing. In the amendment proposed to the Wildlife Protection Act of India, it is said that any illegal hunting in tiger reserves or any attempt to encroach on reserved land in the country could incur a jail term of not less than seven years and a fine up to Rupees 50 lakh (Tk 74 lakh). Furthermore, poachers having a second run-in with the law could be face much stiffer punishment, with a fine of up to Rupees 75 lakh (Tk 112 lakh). According to the proposed amendment, offences relating to other animals listed as endangered or critical could incur a jail term of not less than five years with a minimum fine of Rupees 5 lakh (Tk 7.5 lakh). Repeat offenders will incur a jail term of not less than seven years, and they will be fined up to Rupees 25 lakh (Tk 37 lakh). At present, the punishment that is mentioned in the Bangladesh Wildlife Act is a maximum of two years imprisonment with a maximum fine of Tk 2000. This needs to be revised urgently. It is understood that the government has recently initiated the revision process. Tiger conservationists expect the revised punishment to be in line with what is being proposed in India. Dr Md Anwarul Islam, professor of Zoology at Dhaka University and the CEO of the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh, is of the opinion that to save the tiger, we need to save its prey population. In the Sundarbans, the spotted deer is the tiger's main prey but rampant poaching on the fringes of the Sundarbans is rapidly depleting the spotted deer population. Deer (prey) poaching is much more harmful than tiger poaching for the existence of the tiger, he says, as the tigers are heavily dependent on the remaining spotted deer population in the Sundarbans. So Bangladesh needs to have a tougher, more stringent law to protect the deer population in the Sundarbans as well. It may be mentioned here that today there is no natural population of spotted deer outside the Sundarbans. According to Dr Islam, judges, magistrates and forest officials should be empowered to allow them to detain alleged poachers in the custody of the forest department for several days to facilitate investigations. In building a successful tiger conservation effort, he strongly recommends institutional development based on policy, forest protection through law enforcement, education to raise awareness, and research and monitoring, as well as the need for collaboration between different stakeholders.