Tigers should increase in coming days

Industry Desk: International Tiger Day or World Tiger Day celebrated yesterday to make people aware of the dangers and problems faced by tigers around the globe.
The cutting down of trees which causes loss of habitat, illegal trading and hunting are some of the prime factors behind the declining population of the tigers.
Bangladesh has also chalked out some programmes, including rallies, to mark the day. According to sources in the Sundarbans West Division, the number of tigers in the Sundarbans was 440 in 2004. But its number declined to 114 in 2018. From 2001 to June in 2022, a total of 46 tigers died in the Sundarbans. After years of decline, the number of tigers has seen a slight increase as the government has taken an immediate initiative to assess tiger presence in the Sundarbans.
Bangladesh has taken steps to conduct a tiger census in the Sundarbans and reduce human-tiger conflict.
The government has already updated its National Tiger Recovery Programme (NTRP), effective from 2022 to 2034, with a target to double the tiger population in the Sundarbans.
Tourists spotted four tigers at a time on March 12 this year in Sharankhola range of Sundarbans East Division and a video of the four tigers went viral. Tourists also saw three tigers on February 24. Recently, tigers are coming to locality of Sharankhola and Mongla areas. Experts say this indicates that the tiger population is being increased.
Mohammad Belayet Hossain, DFO of the Sundarbans East Division, said during the tourist season, people are sighting tigers in the Sundarbans, which was rare. This indicates that the tiger population is on the rise but the exact number can be found only after completing a survey.
Many places have been brought under protection area. If the improved protection is given to tigers in the Sundarbans remains, the number will increase in the coming days, he said.
Tigers are unfortunately the species that are nearing extinction. Therefore, to spread awareness about the need to conserve tigers, International Tiger Day is marked every year.
The decision to recognise this day was taken in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia.

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other wild live survey programme will be implemented through the camera trapping which will take place for the third time in the mangrove forest, the minister said at the function arranged by the Department of Forests.
The International Tiger Day is being observed every year on July 29 in light of the declaration for reinforcing conservation of Tigers emerged from a conference of the state heads of 13 Tiger rich countries held at Saint Petersburg in Russia in the year of 2010.
The main theme of the International Tiger Day is “Tiger is our pride …So, all are responsible to protect it” and the minister termed the theme as time- befitting.
According to the latest survey report held in the Sundarbans on 2017-2018, about 114 tigers remain in Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans mangrove forests while it was nearly 96 in the Sundarbans of Indian part following a survey on 2020-2021.
Tigers are one of the endangered species and there are only 4,485 tigers remaining in the world, but tigers have been identified as an endangered species resulting in illegal poaching and deforestation all over the world, according to the List of critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Chaired by Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) M Amir Hossain Chowdhury, the meeting was also attended, among others, by Deputy Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Habibun Nahar, Environment Forests and Climate Change Secretary Dr Farhina Ahmed and Additional Secretary Iqbal Abdullah Harun.