Friday July 3, 2009, 5:38 am
:( very sad... thanks Maria!

Police in southeastern Bangladesh arrested a man Thursday for beating an endangered Bengal tiger to death after it strayed into a village, a forest official said. Skip related content
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The tiger had entered the village in Satkhira, which is close to the border with India, and residents beat it with sticks because they feared for their lives, the head official for the Sundarbans mangrove forest told AFP.

"The tiger did not kill anyone, but some villagers were afraid so they decided to beat it to death with large sticks," Aboni Kumar Bhushan said, adding that the animal's corpse had been taken away by forest officials for an autopsy.

"Three villagers were injured as they tried to pin the tiger down," he said.

The official said police were preparing to lay charges against the man who was the "ring leader" of the attack, although dozens had helped to kill the animal.

Government figures show 18 people in Bangladesh were killed by tigers in the first six months of this year. All but one of the deaths were in Satkhira district.

Twenty-one people were killed during the whole of 2008, according to another forest official, Mihir Kumar Daw.

Conservationists say tiger-related human deaths are on the rise because a shortage of food in the Sundarbans is forcing them to abandon their traditional territory to look elsewhere for survival.

A cyclone struck the Sundarbans and neighbouring areas on May 26 this year, contaminating fresh water ponds that tigers drink from with salty water.

Forest officials had feared for the survival of the great cats in the area but no deaths were reported.

The Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, straddling the border between India and Bangladesh.

The IUCN Red List estimates there are less than 2,500 Bengal tigers left in the world with as few as 200 of those in Bangladesh.

Friday July 3, 2009, 10:23 pm
until money is spent on rangers to protect the remaining forest and safe guard the hunting grounds of the tigers they will be forced into smaller and smaller areas until they are all killed off for just being a threat to people... it will take a lot of money to protect the tigers and where is this money going to come from? - real solutions need to be put in place before all the tigers are gone!

Friday July 3, 2009, 10:55 pm
The lost of any rare or endangered animal is tragic. Mankind has moved into their territory and/or destroyed their habitat. This is so tragic and sad, and yet we will see this type of news more frequently. We could not even save our mountains from being blown up for coal here in America! How on earth could we possibly save tigers and otherendangered animals overseas!? I've written letters and signed petitions for 40-years now and it seems like nothing has done anything to change the world for the better!

Saturday July 4, 2009, 12:04 am
Soooo sad. They really need more money to get rangers IMO.
Tx Maria

Saturday July 4, 2009, 12:07 am
stupid and for beating the tiger that guy should be beaten to death!!!!

Saturday July 4, 2009, 2:31 am
This is a very sad situation. As there are more people squeezing out wildlife habitat, you will see these conflicts become more common.

However, I think this is one of those opportunistic killings that I would call poaching. Many of the tiger deaths are from poisonings and revenge killings, yet there are several instances in which the killers actually got paid to kill the tiger. The problem is that, in some instances, the rangers and higher ups actually HELP out in the poaching. I agree, there are not enough forestry officials as there is basically a hiring freeze. Moreover, the average age of the officials is in the 50s.

As for this case, this needs to be really prosecuted and the man punished. Unfortunately, the way the legal system is there, he probably will get or find representation that will delay this case long enough so that the case will be dismissed. If not, then he probably won't be in jail long as he or his representation will help get him out faster.

Millions of dollars have been thrown into the problem of saving tigers, yet none of them have been saved from the brink. In fact, most of the money, especially in India but also in other countries, that is supposed to go to conservation ends up with public works projects that cause further problems as well as line the pockets of the officials. (The World Bank donations of the 1990s is a prime example, but there are also more recent examples.)

Unless EVERY nation has a will to save this magnificent cat, I fear he will no longer pad the earth.