475 poachers identified at the Sundarbans: Officials

Bangladesh: The Forest department has prepared a list of 475 suspected tiger and deer poachers in the Sundarbans as it planned to launch massive anti-poaching campaign mobilizing armed forces and law enforcement agencies, senior forest officials said on Tuesday.

"We have prepared a list of 475 tiger and deer poachers last week," Khulna West Division Forest Officer (DFO) Zahir Uddin Ahmed told BSS.

He added that the list was already sent to navy, coastguard, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police seeking their assistance in carrying out the anti-poaching campaign.

"The combing operation is expected to be started in November to expose the poachers to justice," Ahmed said.

The official said most of the poachers were detected in Khulna and Satkhira Range of the forest department while the rests were found to be active in the Bagerhat Range and added that 150 of suspected poachers were already accused in different cases.

The forest department move came as a new census in July this year revealed that the tiger population rapidly dwindled with only around 100 big cats remaining in the world's largest mangrove forest stretching both Bangladesh and Indian coastlines.

Ahmed said the decision to launch the campaign was taken recently at a meeting of concerned departments and agencies with Khulna's Divisional Commissioner Abdus Samad in the chair.

Six alleged tiger poachers were killed in what officials said a gunfight with police in August this year in view of a massive uproar launched by the conservation activists.

The Sundarbans that covers 6,017 square kilometers of land and water, is the home for about 106 tigers, some 1.50 lakh deer, 40,000 monkeys, 25,000 wild boars, 350 crocodiles and 25,000-30,000 otters, according to a latest official estimate.

The July census revealed that the number of the Sundarban's famous Royal Bengal Tiger population was far fewer than it was previously thought.

(Source: FE)