Tigers in the Sundarbans are facing existential threat for food shortage in the wake of growing poaching of spotted deer.
Well known as the Royal Bengal Tiger, the big cats in the mangrove forest in the country’s southern region hunt spotted deer, monkey and wild boar.
But spotted deer is the staple of the tiger, according to a review report by the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department on the Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity project.
Amid the scarcity of food, tigers often sneak into localities resulting in human-tiger conflict.
The report noted that conservation of tigers was largely dependent on its usual diet and ecosystem of the forest.
The camera-based survey under the Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity project in 2018 calculated the number of Bengal tigers in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans at 114, up from 106 recorded under a previous survey in 2015.
The IMED report has recommended increasing petrol by the foresters to check illegal hunting of deer by poachers at various points including Mongla, Sharonkhola, Paikgachha and Dacope of the forest.
Wildlife Conservation Society country representative and terrestrial programme manager Dr Mohammad Zahangir Alom said that local foresters nowadays applied Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool for patrolling the forest.
The monitoring system is a combination of software and training materials to help conservation managers monitor animals, identify threats such as poaching or disease and make patrols more effective, he said.
Zahangir Alom said that the petrol system should be enhanced to keep poaching at bay.
It has been reported that foresters in a drive in January arrested 10 poachers and recovered 78 kilogramme of venison, 10 deerskins and a dead dear.
Md Niamul Naser, chairman of the department of zoology of Dhaka University, said that the best way to check poaching was surveillance.
Besides, protecting ecosystem of the forest should be maintained for increasing the number of spotted deer, he added.
The IMED reports also suggested survey on other animals including spotted deer at an interval for strengthening the conservation.
According a 2007 publication by the department of forest, the number of spotted deer was 83,000.
The report suggested restriction on the entry of tourists into the forest.
It also recommended study on the ecosystem to find ways for increasing the number of tigers and other animals.
