Authorities investigating the discovery of 14 dead vultures in a feeding zone that’s meant to be safe for the scavenging birds have found that they died from eating poisoned bait left for other wildlife. The preliminary inquiry by the Bangladesh Forest Department and the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, determined that local people had […]
Tag: Bangladesh
Forest management tool could help rein in rampant wildlife trade in Bangladesh
For years, authorities in Bangladesh have struggled to rein in the rampant illegal wildlife trade, as the country serves both as a source and transit point for domestic and international trade in a significant number of globally endangered species and their body parts. Trafficking routes often extend to China, India and Myanmar. Now, a patrolling […]
Bangladesh struggles to protect the last of its last wild elephants
DHAKA, Bangladesh — In the early hours of July 19, a herd of wild elephants came down from the hills to a crop field located in Rangunia, in Bangladesh’s Chattogram district, in search of food. The elephants soon began damaging crops and banana orchards planted close to the forests as they foraged for food. Abdul […]
Conservation win for Bangladesh as efforts to halt vulture decline pay off
Vultures were a common sight across the Indian subcontinent until the late 1980s. But the excessive use of some veterinary drugs for cattle, which are toxic to the scavengers, and loss of habitat, led to a drastic fall in vulture numbers in the wild. By 2017, some species’ populations had fallen by 95%. However, in […]
Wild release marks return of giant forest tortoises to Bangladesh hills
Bangladesh’s population of one of the world’s largest tortoise species received a boost last month when researchers and villagers released 10 captive-bred juveniles into the evergreen forests of the Chattogram Hill Tracts. This initiative, in the rugged mountain range in the extreme southeast of the country bordering Myanmar and India, was the first rewilding of […]
Poacher suspected of killing 70 Bengal tigers captured after 20-year pursuit
Bangladeshi police have arrested a notorious poacher wanted for 20 years and suspected of killing about 70 endangered Bengal tigers. Saidur Rahman, the local police chief, said that Habib Talukder – nicknamed “Tiger Habib” – lived next to the forest and would flee whenever officers raided the area. “Acting on a tipoff, we finally succeeded […]
Petition: Protect Endangered Dolphins
On March 29, 2021, an NOAA study was released that revealed that the endangered dolphin in the Indus and Ganges Rivers was actually two separate species. This is a fascinating discovery, but it means that each of these dolphins is even more endangered than previously thought. For years, scientists thought the rare dolphin in India, […]
Illegal wildlife trade intrinsically linked to drugs and weapons trafficking, report finds
In April 2019, customs officials in Dhaka, Bangladesh, seized 80 turtles and 12 gold bars from a passenger arriving from Thailand. It was not the first time when a passenger was involved in the illegal shipment of a wildlife species alongside another illicit product. But a report has now found the links between the illegal […]