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The country’s top wildlife conservation official has said a tiger release in to the Sundarbans had been planned despite criticism over such measures and the deaths of two similarly-released tigers in Bangladesh in 2005 and 2006.
The tigress intended for release, Jothi, is a 27 month old big cat weighing in at 75 kilogrammes. She is one of three tiger cubs rescued from smugglers in 2012. All three were reared by wildlife conservators.
“We plan to release the tigress to the Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary, but no time frame for the release has been decided. She will be released for ecological and home-range study purposes and will be fitted with a satellite radio collar,” Forest Department Conservator of Forests (wildlife) Tapan Kumar Dey told the Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.
But Chief Conservator of Forests Yunus Ali, the country’s top forestry department official, denied that the department had any such plans.
Yet page 40 of the brochure from the Second Global Tiger Stocktaking Conference held in Dhaka between September 14 and 16 this year, signed by both Tapan and Yunus, says: “On experimental basis one tigress (Jothi) will be released in Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary with satellite collar for home range and ecological study. It is a good success story of Bangladesh Forest Department.”
The country’s leading wildlife and tiger experts say releasing the tigress is a bad idea because its chances of survival were very low.
Renowned wildlife expert Ali Reza Khan, a specialist at Dubai Zoo, said, “The experiment would cost the tiger its life.”
“It is an endangered species. The wildlife act does not permit experiments with endangered species,” he said.
“The tigress would not know how to hunt and would be vulnerable to other animals in the wild. If the tigress were released, it would be a serious crime,” said Khan.
He said only tigers and leopards cannot be released suddenly into the wild because they are individualistic animals; all other animals can be released.
Forest officials say the tigress can kill guinea pigs, goats and boars. But she was not trained to fight other predators, including wild tigers and crocodiles.
Tiger expert Dr Monirul Haque Khan of Jahangirnagar University told the Dhaka Tribune that protocols had to be maintained to enable tigers to be reintroduced into the wild.
“The main challenge for releasing the tigress is cultivating her independence and self-reliance. Since she was raised by humans, Jothi remains unprepared for life in the wild,” he said.
“The protocols for re-introduction are a must. The tigress first needs to be acclimatised to the Sundarbans. She needs to develop hunting skills, otherwise she may not survive,” said Monirul.
The tigress would be fitted with a satellite collar to study her movements, behaviour and home range, Tapan told the Dhaka Tribune.
When the correspondent reminded Tapan about previous failures with such releases and problems with collaring technology, he admitted that there had been some bad episodes earlier.
Researchers in 2005 and 2006 applied radio collars to two tigers after tranquillising them. The first tiger died within six months of radio-collaring and the second one died soon after it was tranquillised to remove the collar.
Tapan claimed the tigers died due to old-age complications but admitted that there were risks associated with collaring and there were problems with tranquillising tigers.
Conservationists oppose the use of satellite radio collar technology because such devices reportedly irritate the tigers and can lead to hormonal changes in them.
Tiger expert Ali Reza Khan said collaring should not be applied. Instead, the department should import tracking devices or micro-chip devices if officials insist on the release. If they do not use the new technology, they should abandon the release plan, he said.
He said if forest department officials press forward with a release, they should go for a soft release to enable Jothi to learn about her new habitat before fully releasing her into the wild.
But Khan said he would prefer it if the forest department raises the three tigers and uses them for breeding.
“Since there are both male and female tigers, the department should increase the number of this rare species through breeding programmes,” he said.
The three month old cubs – Joy, Jothi and Jui – were sent to a mini rescue centre at the Botanical Gardens. When the tigers grew to a weight of 20 kilogrammes, the forest department transferred them to BSM Safari Park in Cox’s Bazar on October 13, 2012.
All three of them are now 2 years and three months old. Joy, the male, weighs 120 kilogrammes, while Jothi and Jui are now up to 75 kilogrammes each, according to forest officials.
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