ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[Rishi]

(01-07-2018, 05:28 AM)Greatearth Wrote: Then it is a good news for Sundarbans tiger. Last time I heard about them was there was only 100 tigers are remaining in Sundarbans due to poaching and people are keep entering tiger's habitat (2016).

The most interesting I heard from Sundarbans was fishermen are using otters (Smooth coated otter) to catching a fish.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Anyway, otter-fishing is strongly forbidden on the Indian side today & even possession pet otters is unheard of anymore. The Bangladesh side is pretty neglected though...

To put thing into perspective. Here's the Protected Area on Indian side:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The 2500km² tiger reserve has about 70-90 tigers & the fringe islands to the west (reserve forest) has another 20-25.
Royal Bengal Tiger count in Sunderbans is 103

And here's the Protected Area in Bangladesh side:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Of the 6000 km² that remains of their forests, less than 350 km² (land) is Protected Area. The rest is Reserve Forest which are still harvested, risking both tigers & humans.

The tiger numbers on that side is estimated at 105.

Here's the respective tiger densities:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

The previous census had pegged the numbers at 275 & 440 in Indian & Bangladeshi side respectively using the flawed pugmark-method (& also probably inflated a bit). In India such numbers were doubted & we swiftly switched to camera-trapping. That have us the, much lower, true numbers...

Now, when western media reports it, they ALWAYS have a headline like:
"Bangladesh's (in wrong pronunciation) Sundarbans (worse pronunciation) left with only 100 tigers, down from 440 few years ago."

Erm... NO!
What's worse is that India's national media copies from them & show the same horse****. Only the small local media houses care to do a proper study & present accurate story. Reply