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The Sundarban Tiger
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Carcass of Royal Bengal tiger recovered at sundarbans, cause of death still unknown but officials suspecting poachers placed trap for deers but the tiger victimized.
It's the first in 4 years, tiger ‘poached’ in Sunderbans bullet injuries on HEAD found. Tiger shot dead in such a protected area like UNESCO and RAMSAR site raised many questions... https://www.sangbadpratidin.in/bengal/ro...sunderban/  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Forest dept employees burn the remains of the big cat at Kultoli A Bengal tiger was found dead with a wire snare around its waist — indicating poaching — on Monday in the Sunderbans, a Unesco World Heritage site that has also been recently recognised as a Ramsar site.  *This image is copyright of its original author This is the first reported tiger death in the mangroves in the last four years and the first unnatural death of a big cat on the terrain since 2008, when the carcass of a tiger, with bullet injuries in its head, was found floating on the Jhila river. The death of the tiger — an endangered species, accorded the highest level of protection under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and in such a highly protected environment like the Sunderbans — has once again raised questions about the vulnerability of the national animal. It is being speculated that the tiger was not the intended victim, and that it got caught in a deer-poaching trap. Officially, it is not being called a case of poaching yet, until more details emerge.  *This image is copyright of its original author A senior forest department official said the snare, made of galvanized iron, is typically used to hunt deer and wild boar. “The tiger got trapped in it. The snare was found around its waist when the carcass was recovered. The incident took place inside compartment 1 of Ajmalmari, which falls under the South 24 Parganas forest division,” said G R Santhosha, the divis-ional forest officer of the zone. No arrest has yet been made in this connection, he added. Ravi Kant Sinha, the state’s wildlife warden, said the age and sex of the animal could not be determined because the carcass, more than 15 days old, was decomposing. “We are not officially calling it poaching since its body parts were intact. We have sent samples for post-mortem,” he added. Sources said the buffer zone, where the carcass was found, is very close to Madhya Gurguria village. “A narrow river channel separates the village from the nearby forest, where poachers often sneak in to search for deer. Though the forest department received the information on Monday morning, they had to press into service Ikna, the sniffer dog stationed in Sajnekhali, to finally locate the carcass later in the afternoon,” said an official. Sinha said tiger deaths are very difficult to detect or report in the Sunderbans because of the hostile terrain. It was last officially reported from the mangroves in August 2015, when two cubs were found dead in as many days. “It’s not possible for our staff to negotiate the swamp amid the tidal cycles. Hence, tiger deaths often go undetected in the Sunderbans,” he added. Sources said the trap was placed inside the forest to kill deer. A recent report on the population of tigers in both the Indian and Bangladeshi Sunderbans has sounded the alarm over poaching, mainly of prey animals. Human interference was higher in the Bangladesh Sunderbans, the report had said, adding that the mangroves in Bangladesh has low tiger density compared with the Indian part. Scientists had attributed this to poaching of prey animals in the Sunderbans. Quote:Top Comment  *This image is copyright of its original author The tiger poaching in Jhila more than a decade back was also believed to be the handiwork of Bangladeshi fishermen and cattle smugglers. Earlier in 2013, deer poachers were held in the Lothian Wildlife Sanctuary on the Indian side with 10 traps made of nylon wires. In the same year, a group of villagers were caught red-handed while they were feasting on deer meat. While a kilo of deer meat is sold in the Sunderbans villages for more than Rs 300, a skin can fetch as much as Rs 50,000 in the international market. A source revealed that poachers in the mangroves use snares made of both nylon wires and galvanised iron. The traps made of nylon wires are used mostly by local crab-catchers, cattle smugglers and fishermen from Bangladesh rely mostly on traps made of galvanised iron. They place a trap by tying its two ends to tree trunks. “The moment a deer approaches it while looking for food, it gets stuck in the snare. The more it tries to free itself, the noose gets tightened around its neck or feet,” said a villager. |
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