Tigress found dead in Sundarbans
Staff Correspondent, Khulna
Some fishermen found the body of a Royal Bengal tigress Saturday afternoon from the Sundarbans adjacent to Koira Patrol Outpost under Baniakhali Station of the western wing of the Sundarbans Forest Division (SFD).The tigress was found dead with a nylon rope tied round her neck. Later, Station Officer Shaikh Shahidullah of Baniakhali Station retrieved the body of the tigress and sent it to Kashiabad Forest Station the same night. On Sunday morning, it was sent to Koira Upazila Livestock Officer Haripada Biswas for autopsy. After autopsy at noon, the body of the tigress was dumped into the ground near Kashiabad Forest Station after its skin was peeled off. The skin is now lying with Mahmudul Hasan, assistant conservator of forest in charge of Nalian Range Office of the SFD. The tigress died of diarrhoea or from starvation sometime on Wednesday or Thursday. She was very old, said Conservator of Forests Altaf Hossain Khan. He denied the allegation that the tigress was trapped to death by poachers during Raas Purnima festival held recently at Dublar Char and Alor Kol, the coastal belts of the Bay of Bengal. "We have obtained the autopsy report which says the Royal Bengal tigress died a natural death," said the conservator of forests. Locals and fishermen, however, said the cause of death of the tigress has been suppressed in the autopsy report. The nylon rope of the trap used by the poachers has been missing since the retrieval of the body of the tigress in an attempt to conceal crucial evidence. Koira Upazila Livestock Officer Haripada Biswas said he found signs and symptoms suggesting that the tigress had been trapped to death. But he did not mention it in the autopsy report for reasons still unknown. A general diary was filed with the Koira Police Station of Khulna district on Sunday afternoon by the Baniakhali station officer. According to locals and fishermen, the tigress was trapped to death by a gang of poachers led by Abdul Gani, member of Hadda Union Parishad of Koira upazila. Forest guards of Koira Patrol Outpost aided and abetted the poachers in the crime, locals alleged. They also said large numbers of deer were also killed in the same manner by poachers who entered the forest in the guise of pilgrims and tourists during the Raas Purnima festival.
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