Bangladesh has only about 100 tigers living in the world’s largest mangrove forest, far fewer of the endangered animals than previously thought, following a recent survey, a top forestry official said yesterday.
About 440 tigers were recorded during the previous census conducted in 2004 in the World Heritage-listed Sundarbans, one of the world’s last remaining habitats for the big cats.
However, experts said better methodology was the reason for the huge drop in numbers, saying hidden cameras used this time around, rather than pug marks, gave a much more accurate figure.
Photo: AFP
Tapan Kumar Dey, the government’s wildlife conservator, said analysis of camera footage from the year-long survey that ended in April found numbers ranged between 83 and 130, giving an average of 106.
“So, plus or minus, we have around 106 tigers in our parts of the Sundarbans. It is a more accurate figure,” Dey said of the survey, which has not yet been publicly released.
About 74 tigers have previously been counted on the Indian side of the Sundarbans, which makes up nearly 40 percent of the forest straddling both nations, which covers an area of more than 10,000km2.
Bengal tigers live mainly in India, where nationwide there are 2,226, with smaller populations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Myanmar.
Jahangirnagar University zoology professor Monirul Khan, the nation’s foremost tiger expert, said the new survey confirmed his worst fears.
“It seems the population has declined to more than what we had feared,” Khan said, adding that his studies showed the figure was no more than 200.
Khan said the government needed to do more to protect the animals, whose numbers were shrinking because of poaching and rapid development on the edge of the forest.
The World Wildlife Fund said tigers worldwide are in serious danger of becoming extinct in the wild.
Their numbers have fallen from 100,000 in 1900 to about 3,200.
Officials have conceded that the pugmark tracking system used in 2004 was unreliable and cameras were installed in trees throughout the forest for the latest survey.
Wildlife Institute of India professor Y.V. Jhala said the new figure was the “reality.”
“The 440 figure was a myth and an imagination. Bangladesh parts of the Sundarbans, with its prey size, can support up to 200 tigers,” he said, urging authorities to act to better protect the cats.
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