Following the completion of work in the Satkhira range, authorities are now progressing with the tiger census in Khulna range of the Sundarbans. The procedure is due to end in April.
After a six-month break, the census will resume in November from the Sharankhola and Chandpai ranges and will end after four months.
After a review of the survey data, results will be announced on July 29, 2024 on the World Tiger Day.
Divisional Forest Officer of Sundarban West Forest Department Abu Naser Mohsin said, 200 cameras have already been set up in the Satkhira range. After that, 140 cameras were installed in the Khulna range to help surveyors in the census.
Currently a tiger survey is going on through a camera trapping process. According to the 2018 census, there were 114 tigers in the forest.
Various sources suggest that many wild animals in the Sundarbans are living in an adverse environment. Tiger and deer hunting did not stop despite various measures.
This year also deer poachers and tiger hunters were arrested in the forest. Additionally, on August 20, 2019, the forest department recovered the carcass of a tiger from the forest clearing area. The post-mortem report said that the 10 to 12-year-old tiger had died of natural causes. The same was said in the forensic report. On February 3, 2020, the carcass of another 14-year-old tiger was found in the Kabarkhali area of the forest. The autopsy report did not vary much. But, in the Sundarbans tigers usually live for 18 to 20 years.
On March 19, 2021, the forest department recovered the remains of another tiger from the char of Dhanchebaria in the Sarankhola range. Besides, on January 19, 2021, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Forest Department recovered a tiger skin and detained a number of smugglers from the Rajoi area near the Sundarbans.
The Sundarbans is a world heritage site as well as the world's largest wetland. The area was designated as Sundarbans Reserved Forest Ramsar Site in 1992. The site is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.
Besides, the sea area of Sundarbans comprises 1, 603.2 square kilometers. There are 450 big and small rivers and canals in this area.
According to sources, about 80 acres of forest land have been burnt 27 times in the last 18 years to extract freshwater fish from the forest area.
Before this, on May 26, 2017, there was a fire incident in Abdullah's forest under Nangli Forest Camp of Chandpai Range in East Sundarbans. In that fire, about five acres of forest trees and vines were burnt to ashes.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Sundarbans East Division Muhammad Belayet Hossain said that in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, there are only 4 rangers, 18 revenue offices, and 889 patrol outpost staffers..
With over a hundred vacancies in different posts, it is a difficult task for local officials to take care of the wildlife.