Status Of The Mammal Fauna In Sundarban Tiger Reserve, West Bengal - India

Abstract

Sundarban Tiger Reserve (2,584.89 km 2) in West Bengal is a part of the world's largest estuarine wetland and the only mangrove tigerland, spread over India and Bangladesh. Its plant associations exhibit a great generic/species diversity and offers habitats of many rare and endangered mammals. The dense thickets of Heritiera fomes, Nypa fruticans and Phoenix paludosa form the prime habitat of Panthera tigris tigris. This tigerland is also the abode of a good number of its prey and other associated mammal species. A one-year (January-December 2010) study was conducted with the frontline forest department staff to investigate the distribution and status of the mammalian species found in this thirty-eight years' old tiger conservation area, involving literature review, questionnaire and ground surveys. This has revealed shrinkage of the mangrove swamp habitat and a number of mammal species in decline due to extensive anthropogenic and natural threats. Out of forty nine extant species recorded (eight orders: twenty three families), four are globally endangered, four vulnerable and two near threatened as per IUCN Red List. Alarmingly, fifteen mammal species were found on only rare occasions. In addition, six species (two orders: three families) had become extinct during the last two centuries. Though distributed over all forest block areas, the frequency of tigersighting was recorded more from Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary and the buffer areas than Sundarban National Park or the core area. High-priority wildlife conservation, proper implementation of the tiger action plan, further infrastructural development and effective joint forest management are essential for saving this tigerland.

Post Traumatic Eco-Stress Disorder (PTESD): A Qualitative Study from Sundarban Delta, India

“…Appearance of tiger suddenly within the domestic premises is an ecological reality because very often tigers stray inside the villages (Fig. 8), even into the kitchen or cattle-shed [53,29,72,74,50]. So this fear is not entirely imaginary but rather has pathological intensification as a part of their PTSD anxiety.…”

“…In legal exploration if a death occurs from tiger attack, the victim's family is supposed to get some compensation. Categories of persons killed by Tigers in STR from 1998 to 2008 (adopted from [50]).…”

Stigma of tiger attack: Study of tiger-widows from Sundarban Delta, IndiaFNx01

“…[ 11 ] The official record shows that on average about 10–15 people are annually killed by tigers. [ 12 ]…”

Ecopsychosocial Aspects of Human–Tiger Conflict: An Ethnographic Study of Tiger Widows of Sundarban Delta, India

“…23 The official record shows that on average 10-15 people are annually killed by tigers in the STR. 24 In Bangladesh Sundarban, there are generally thought to be anywhere between 335 and 500 tigers (2004 count and annual monitoring since 2007), 25 and on average, about 80 people are killed annually by tigers. 26 Straying of tigers into the close vicinity of fringe villages is also raising the potential for HTCs 27 and indeed is now becoming quite frequent in both the Sundarbans.…”

“…In Indian Sundarban, the annual mean frequency of tiger straying is 15.8 during the period 2002-2009. 24 In Bangladesh, between July 2008 and 2010, tigers visited human habitats 123 times, of those, five died from retaliatory killing, while 51 people and 36 livestock were killed by the tigers. 28 study block.…”