Bangladesh Holds Record Number of Tiger Attacks Due to Habitat Loss

A Bengal tiger in Dhaka's National Zoo

It has been found that Bangladesh has experienced a surge in tiger attacks primarily due to habitat loss. Last year's count showed that a total of fifty people have been killed, the largest record in the last century. In addition to habitat, Bangladesh's tigers also turned to human prey due to lack of natural food sources because of illegal poaching in the Sunderbans. According to Professor Anwarul Islam of Bangladesh Wildlife Trust, a survey was carried out on 800 families living along the fringes of the mangrove forests. During that survey, almost half of the villagers admitted in eating venison (deer meat) last year.

I hope that some alternative solutions will be planned, in order to prevent further tiger attacks. Bangladesh has recently been reported to be part of the 13-Nation Tiger Conservation Summit in St. Petersburg. And like eleven other nations, it will be discussing various strategies to save the species. In my opinion, Bangladesh's situation regarding its tiger attacks is a likely topic for this upcoming discussion and hopefully the nation will receive suggestions from its neighbors in order to save both its tigers and people from further conflicts.

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