The number of tiger attacks on people is growing in India鈥檚 Sundarban islands as habitat loss and dwindling prey caused by climate change drives them to prowl into villages for food, conservation experts say.
Wildlife experts say endangered tigers in the world鈥檚 largest reserve are turning on humans because rising sea levels and coastal erosion are steadily shrinking the tigers鈥� natural habitat.
The Sundarbans, a 26,000 sq km area of low-lying swamps on India鈥檚 border with Bangladesh, is dotted with hundreds of small islands criss-crossed by water channels.
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鈥淚n the past six months, seven fishermen were killed in an area called Netidhopani,鈥� says Pranabes Sanyal of the World Conservation Union.
鈥淥wing to global warming, the fragile Sundarbans lost 28% of its habitat in the last 40 years. A part of it is the core tiger reserve area from where their prey migrated.鈥�
But as sea levels rise, two islands have already disappeared and others are vulnerable. Wildlife experts say the destruction of the mangroves means the tigers鈥� most common prey, such as crocodiles, fish and big crabs, is dwindling.
Mangroves have been overexposed to salt water as sea levels rise. Many plants have lost their red and green colours and are more like bare twigs, exposing tigers to poachers who hunt them for their skin and bones.
Tiger-human conflict
Sundarban villagers pass through tiger territory on boats to fish in the sea, or to collect honey in forest areas.
鈥淰illagers are not supposed to enter a number of islands earmarked as tiger territories, but they seldom follow the rules, get attacked and claim compensation,鈥� says Pradip Shukla, a senior forest department official.
Villager Ashutosh Dhali became a local celebrity after television cameras captured him being attacked in February. 鈥淲e were trying to catch the tiger perched on a tree of our village with tranquilizer shots,鈥� says the 47-year-old villager. 鈥淏ut it flung on me after falling on a net and bit my loins.鈥�
Once home to 500 tigers in the late 1960s, the Sundarbans may only shelter between 250 and 270 tigers now, wildlife officials say. The Indian Statistical Institute says the number is as low as 75. Most tigers have been wiped out due to poaching and habitat loss. Authorities say a tiger was killed by poachers in the Sundarbans earlier this month, the latest such killing in India.
The area is the world鈥檚 largest mangrove reserve and one of the most unique ecosystems in South Asia, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ullas Karanth, of the Wildlife Conservation Society India, says that the Sundarbans are a poor quality tiger habitat because of low prey densities.
鈥淭he tendency to seek alternate prey in the form of livestock 鈥� and sometimes humans 鈥� might be higher in these tigers,鈥� Karanth says.
There were about 40,000 tigers in India a century ago. A government census report published this year says the tiger population has fallen to 1411, down from 3642 in 2002, largely due to dwindling habitat and poaching.
