Crocs ill in contaminated Karamjal

Oil spill from sunken tanker ‘OT Southern Star 7’ in Sundarbans has affected 7 young crocodiles at Karamjal Wildlife Reproduction Centre. Environmental experts and forest officials had feared negative effects after the oil tanker carrying over 350,000 litres of furnace sank in Shela River in Sundarbans East Zone in Bagerhat district on Tuesday. Oil spread to 34,000 hectares in four days, causing 7 four-month-old crocodiles to fall sick, the officials said. Sore mouths were spotted in them in salt water reservoirs at the reproduction centre, located at the Chandpai Range on the bank of Pashur River of the Sundarbans east zone, on Thursday. The wildlife reproduction centre forest ranger Abdur Rab on Thursday night said: ‘We changed the water of the crocodile's salt water reservoirs when tidal water came at river Pashur on Tuesday afternoon. The rising water, that contained oil, entered the reservoir. So, we didn't replace the reservoirs water with water from the Pashur River since that day. But today I spotted sore mouths on 'Pilpil' and 'Juliet's' seven babies, who were born in last August.’ They were already under treatment, he said. The water of the reservoirs used to be changed every day. But it has been temporarily stopped because of the oil spill in the river. ‘The crocodile babies are living in their wastes due to the unchanged water. If the situation persists, they have to be moved somewhere else,’ Rab said. The Sundarbans East Division Forest Officer (DFO) Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury said there are 255 four- to six-month-old salt water crocodiles in 18 reservoirs at the Karamjal Wildlife Reproduction Centre, according to bdnews24.com.