Animals in Sundarbans face scarcity of sweet water

There is no natural food crisis for animals living in the Sundarbans but there are symptoms of dying up sweet water sources gradually.
Besides, the trees are suffering from diseases called top dying which has been recorded officially two decades back, according to officials.
The UNESCO declared the Sundarbans — 6,017 square kilometers including three wildlife sanctuaries-as a world heritage.
Death of a young tigress due to the mass beating by angry villagers on January 22 sparked a controversy among experts as natural water and food sources became scarce.
However, law-enforcers, including Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), failed to protect the tigers from the fury of the villagers.
The Forest Department is also suffering from the shortage of supplies of tranquiliser injections and gas canisters which are prerequisite to conservancy of the forest during the incident, according to the experts.
If there had injections then it would have possible to drag the tiger into the jungle safely. Now, the department has received adequate supplies of tranquiliser injections, said the officials.
Many villagers are angry with the tigers and reptiles, including crocodiles as either relatives or friends of them were killed by the tigers, said the officials.
According to the local newspapers during last nine years, 464 fishermen, ‘bawalis’ and ‘mauals’ were killed by the tigers in separate incidents.
There are 440 tigers, 150 to 200 crocodiles, one lakh to 1.50 lakh deer, 40,000 to 50,000 wild boars, 20,000 to 25,000 otters are living in the Sundarbans.
The panicky tiger earlier left her natural abode in the night and entered a locality of Satkhira village swimming the wide river Chuna to nearby village Khaskhata under Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira district. The spot is around 13 km far from the forest.
The experts and the officials are now sure that the cause of sudden migration of the tigresses resulted in ‘territory syndrome’ which is a natural cause for tiger for leaving his known habitat.

Courtesy of BSS via The BD Today