Sundarbans tiger population rapidly falls

The tiger population in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, has sharply declined to 106 from 440 in 2004, confirms a top forest official quoting the tiger census 2015. Forest conservator Dr Tapan Kumar Dey said that more scientific method was used in the new census, which found only 106 big cats in the Sundarbans, and attributed its sharp fall in recent years to unchecked wildlife poaching. Wildlife experts said the methodology applied in the new tiger census that used hidden cameras to count tigers is better rather than pug marks used in the past. The new census has, therefore, provided more accurate figure of the tiger. According to the tiger census conducted by the government in 2004, the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans was a home to 440 tigers. Bangladesh-India Joint Tiger Census Project conducted the tiger census 2015 examining some 1,500 images and footprints of tigers taken from the Sundarbans through camera trapping and found the horribly low figure of tigers, according to a news agency.
-SRS