Destruction of wildlife must stop

Animal trafficking, slaughtering, killing and selling have increased drastically all over the world. Wildlife is increasingly at risk. In Bangladesh, wildlife is one of the main attractions of tourism. Even though the government is taking many initiatives to protect wildlife, animals are constantly being endangered. 

The Asian elephants, for example, continue to face killing, poaching, hunting, and being sold by body parts illegally. There are many international organizations for saving wildlife. A list by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shows that many animals are already extinct and many others are on the verge of extinction, indicating that significant amount of wildlife face a real and impending threat of extinction all over the world.

Like other countries, the wildlife of Bangladesh is at risk. Killing animals, poaching, indiscriminating killing, deforestation, lack of foods are endangering animal lives. IUCN has found that approximately 31 species have been already extinct. There are also 390 more species that are threatened.

Associate professor at the Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University, Dr M Monirul H Khan of said that most of the extinct animals are big in size and the extinctions are happening at a rapid pace.

It’s an urgent problem in our country right now and the government should impose immediate restrictions in certain areas to protect wildlife. There are some areas all over Bangladesh where hunting or entering are legally restricted.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the interference between animals and human have decreased that is making a positive impact on biodiversity all around the world. 

In past one year or so, the killing of tigers in the forests have decreased, as confirmed by the Forest Department. But the sad news is that a massive number of elephants were killed last year. 

Most of the elephants were the victims of illegal poaching and they were killed by electric traps or shooting. Though the government has restricted areas, still smugglers are putting traps deep inside heavily dense forests to kill elephants. Few years back, the killing of elephants was 4-5 per year, which in recent years have increased.

A law has been passed by parliament to protect the wildlife and the act is called Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012. This act provides the proper legislative tools for conservation and necessary safety of biodiversity, forest and wildlife, and also provides necessary management for the wildlife of our country. 

Also, Article 18A of the constitution of Bangladesh has provisions for the conservation and safety of forest, wildlife, endangered species and biodiversity. 

Because of the killing, poaching and trafficking of wildlife, rare animals, tigers, Asian elephants, forest authorities issued red alert across the Sundarbans to stop killing deer, the Royal Bengal Tiger. The whole Sundarbans region also has been brought under the red zone in order to catch poachers that are destroying wildlife. 

There are also many reasons why wildlife is at risk. Cutting down forest and destroying the natural equilibrium is a major threat. So, in order to survive, animals migrate to the locality, which in turn expose them to further danger.

For protecting wildlife, there are many organizations in our country and they are still struggling to protect the lives of animals. Non-profitable organizations and wildlife activists are also collecting donations to save rare species, which play a very important role in protecting and restoring biodiversity and the ecosystem.

Environment lawyers are also playing an important role through local organizations to protect critical wildlife areas in our country. Activists are also arranging certified workshops to create awareness among the people so that they can come forward and help the authority to save wildlife. Still, all government and non-government parties should further intensity efforts to prevent further loss of wildlife and restore their habitat.