United News of Bangladesh

The recent rescue of a Royal Bengal Tiger after it was caught in a deer snare has once again drawn attention to rampant poaching and the widespread use of deadly traps deep inside the Sundarbans, posing a growing threat to the forest’s apex predator. On January 4, the Forest Department rescued an injured tiger after it became ensnared in a deer trap in the Chandpai range. The animal is currently undergoing treatment at the Khulna Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. Although the increased movement of tigers of all ages in Sharankhola and Chandpai ranges of the Sundarbans has sparked optimism among wildlife experts. Yet this hopeful picture is shadowed by a growing crisis: a sharp decline in deer, the tiger’s primary prey. The mangrove forest is once again showing signs of revival, with the number of Royal Bengal Tigers rising over the past six years. The latest Forest Department survey in 2024 recorded 125 adult tigers, marking an almost 10 percent increase compared to 2018 and a 17.92 percent rise since 2015. Announcing the tiger 2024 survey result EnvironmentAdviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan at a press conference said the tiger population density in the Sundarbans is now 2.64 tigers per 100 square kilometres. Rampant deer poaching, especially during new moon and full moon nights, is eroding the very food base that sustains the apex predator of the Sundarbans. Experts say about 80 percent of a tiger’s diet comes from spotted deer while the remaining 20 percent consists of wild boar, jungle cats and monkeys. The widespread and regular hunting of deer has severely reduced prey availability in the forest.Wildlife specialists warn that if this trend continues, the gains made in tiger conservation could be reversed. Nirmal Kumar Pal, forest officer of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division in Khulna, confirmed increased tiger movement in the Chandpai and Sharankhola ranges. To Save Tigers in Bangladesh, Deer Farming Must End “Eighty percent of a tiger’s food comes from deer with the rest from wild boar, jungle cats and monkeys,” he said, underscoring the link between prey decline and tiger behaviour. Silent Traps in Deep Forests Poachers are increasingly using leaf traps and sedative tablets deep inside the forest to hunt deer. As a result, the Chandpai, Sharankhola, Satkhira and Khulna ranges are experiencing an acute prey shortage. According to wildlife experts a fully grown tiger needs at least 50 to 60 kilograms of meat per week and when food becomes scarce, tigers are more likely to cross rivers and canals and stray into human settlements, increasing the risk of conflict. The publication Sundarban notes that according to a 2023 survey, the forest had 131,604 spotted deer. Conservationists said this number is already below what is required to sustainably support the growing tiger population. Thousands of Traps Seized Forest Department records reveal the scale of the challenge. From May to December last year alone, the Sundarbans East Forest Division recovered more than 61,400 traps of various kinds. In the western division, officials seized 3,148 feet of traps over the past two years. During the same period, authorities recovered 1,148 kilograms of deer meat from poachers. A total of 72 cases were filed naming 192 accused. Farewell to our Friend of Tigers, Dutch ambassador Andre Carstens Rezaual Karim Chowdhury, divisional forest officer of the Sundarbans East Division, said areas such as Bishwaspara, Charduani, Gangpara and Sharankhola in Patharghata upazila saw comparatively higher numbers of seized traps. “Similarly, large quantities of traps have been recovered from Kalabagi and Baniakhali under the Sundarbans West Division,” he added. A Threat Recognised, But Unresolved Professor MA Aziz of Jahangirnagar University’s Department of Zoology and a noted tiger expert warned that leaf traps pose a major threat not only to deer but also to tigers themselves. “This issue is clearly mentioned in the Tiger Action Plan (2018–2027),” he said. He noted that deer hunting has become a secondary source of income for many forest-dependent people. “Demand for deer meat in local markets rises during new moon and full moon nights, leading to increased poaching,” he said, adding, “The forest no longer has the number of deer it needs. At the same time, tigers risk losing limbs or even their lives after getting caught in traps.” As the number of tiger inches upward, experts stress that protecting prey species is now the most urgent task. Without ensuring a healthy deer population, they warn, the Sundarbans’ fragile success story could quickly turn into another conservation setback where more tigers roam the forest, but with too little food to survive.