Tiger poaching: Major hub in Bangladesh
A buyer bought powder of tiger bones in a bottle from a village near the Sundarbans in Satkhira. He first came to Dhaka with the bottle and then went on to Sylhet by a bus. From there he flies directly to London. Another person took tiger bone powder from Sylhet and crossed the border to Assam, India. Tiger bones and organs are regularly poached from Dhaka by international flights and through Chattogram and Mongla seaports.
A team of researchers have been studying the poaching of tigers and tiger organs through investigation and census. They found that tiger poachers are still active in the Sundarbans. From the Sundarbans, tiger organs are being trafficked in 15 countries of the world. Around 153 powerful people are involved in tiger smuggling and trafficking. A group of smugglers from India, China and Malaysia are leading the trade of tiger organs. And the most buyers of these smuggled items are from countries like Qatar, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Japan.
The research was done jointly done by researchers from the US-based wildlife research organisation Panthera and China-based organisation Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results were published this year in the international science journal Conservation Science and Practice.
The report said that, in addition to Bangladesh's Sundarbans, tiger poaching and smuggling ring is active in India's northeastern region and northern Myanmar. The researchers conducted interviews of 194 tiger poachers out of them 56 are tiger hunters, 70 are tiger organ traders and 24 are tiger and hunter smugglers on cross-border routes.
Gangs trafficking tiger parts were also found to be smuggling narcotics.
Co-author and lead of Panthera’s Counter-Wildlife Crime Research & Analytics, Dr. Rob Pickles, stated, “This research demonstrates Bangladesh plays a much more significant role in the illicit tiger trade than we previously realized. However, the work also provides grounds for optimism.”
Pickles continued, “Breaking down the complexity of the illegal tiger trade in Bangladesh has now given us precise targets to focus on, and identified pragmatic interventions to reduce poaching. Bangladesh’s multi-agency counter-piracy campaign, involving providing alternative livelihoods and rigorous law enforcement, offers a successful blueprint to replicate in dismantling current tiger poaching and trafficking groups.”
But forest conservator of wildlife and restoring nature of forest department Imran Ahmed told Prothom Alo, “We have not yet seen the research regarding wildlife poaching. We shall determine its veracity after going through it. We will obviously take action if such poacher ring is active.”
According to the study, 30 pirate groups controlled the Sundarbans of Bangladesh, the world's largest mangrove forest. Extortion, kidnapping, extortion from foresters etc. were their routine activities. Among them, at least seven pirate groups were directly involved in tiger poaching. They were also involved in tiger organs smuggling. Even in 2009, the number of tigers in Sundarbans was 300 to 500. In 2018, it decreased to approximately 114.
The Bangladesh government's 2016 anti-piracy campaign offered amnesty to pirate groups. Those who refused, were raided. Thus, within a few years the region was declared pirate-free. But after the pirates left, around 32 tiger poaching gangs took their places. They use Furadon, the main poison used in agriculture, to kill tigers.
Lead researcher and former Doctoral Fellow of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Nasir Uddin analysed tiger seizure records and interviewed 163 poachers, smugglers and traders involved in trafficking tigers through Bangladesh by land, sea and air from 2016-2021. Dr Nasir found that tigers are being trafficked through road, sea and air. Through his works trade routes were identified, including source sites, processing and distribution centres, transit ports, unregulated border crossings and consumption centres.
Scientists identified four source sites from which tigers were poached, including the Sundarbans extending across India and Bangladesh, India’s Kaziranga-Garampani Parks, Myanmar’s Northern Forest Complex and India’s Namdapha-Royal Manas Parks.
The research stated that the majority of Bangladesh’s illegal trade occurred across land borders with India and Myanmar, influenced by regional political instability, and cultural and linguistic similarities between the countries. Gangs trafficking tiger parts were also found to be smuggling narcotics.
The research further stated, Bangladesh maintains a deep-rooted tradition of using tiger organs and bones. Wealthy Bangladeshi citizens seek tiger parts for medicinal, spiritual and ornamental purposes, including tiger bones, teeth, flesh, milk, skulls and skins, the latter of which can sell for up to $17,450 USD each. In many cases, the meat is consumed to increase physical power; teeth and claws are kept as symbols of power and to ward off bad spirits; and skulls and skins are used as status symbols and gifts to employers to solicit favours.
Study co-author and Panthera Tiger Program Director, Dr. Abishek Harihar said, “Bangladesh is a country on which international law enforcement and scientists must stay focused, particularly given its explosive economic and infrastructure growth facilitating illegal tiger trafficking.”