The Forest Department has taken an initiative to install 600 cameras in the Sundarbans, two each in 300 stations of Chandpai and Shoronkhola range, as a tiger census is underway in the eastern section of the forest.
The camera trapping method for the census of Royal Bengal Tigers in the world's largest mangrove forest began at the Eco Tourism Centre in Harbaria on Sunday.
The Forest Department will use the data collected from the camera trapping method to complete the census, aimed at presenting the complete data on the next World Tiger Day, which is observed on July 29 worldwide.
Another camera trapping census was conducted in the western zone comprising the Satkhira and Khulna ranges in January this year, which ended in April.
The cameras are being installed under the Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project, involving Tk2.7 crore.
Begum Habibun Nahar, deputy minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, inaugurated the census at the Eco Tourism Centre on Sunday.
Speaking at the event, she said: “The Sundarbans will live if tigers live. Therefore, the forest must be preserved in order to preserve the tigers. We will do the needful in order to preserve the tigers. But to do this, the forest guards and other stakeholders must come together in carrying out their responsibilities.”
Abu Nasser Md Mohsin Hossain, director of the Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project and Divisional Officer of the Sundarbans West Forest Division, said: “The number of animals of prey in the Sundarbans is on the rise. Last year, the number was 82,000 while this year it has gone up to 1.42 lakh. Therefore, we assume that the number of tigers will also rise.”
He also said that the global method of tiger census is the camera trapping method. Through this method, the number of tigers is determined by the density of tigers. The same method is being followed in Bangladesh. He said that the census will be carried out in a 4,400-square-kilometer area.
He said the cameras will identify the images and stripes on the tigers. It is a complex method.
In the first tiger survey of the Sundarbans in 2015, some 106 tigers were found, and in the 2018 survey, 114 tigers were found in the Sundarbans. I
Of these, 63 are mature, 18 are between the ages of 12 and 14 months, and 33 are cubs.