Celebrating Global Tiger Day in Dhaka

Bangladesh like other tiger ranging countries observed the Global Tiger Day with full enthusiasm and excitement on the 29th July, 2010. The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and the Forest Department (FD) with cooperation from the World Bank, telecom operator Banglalink and Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) organized a rally, a discussion session and a photo exhibition to mark the day. The FD also distributed T shirts and caps among the participants with the slogan “Save endangered tigers, save Sundarbans” printed on them.



The lively rally, decorated with banners and festoons and consisting of approximately 500 people, began at 8:30 am from the National Museum and ended at the National Press Club. The rally was attended, among others, by the chief guest Dr. Hasan Mahmud, State Minister of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Dr.Mihir Kanti Majumder, Secretary of MoEF, Mr. Md. Abdul Mutaleb, Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF), Mr. Ishitiaq Uddin Ahmed, Deputy Chief Conservator of Forest (DCCF), Mr. Enayetullah Khan and Prof. Md. Anwarul Islam, Chairman and CEO of WTB respectively, FD staff, WTB team and school, college and university students. A band played musical instruments while the procession marched with the rhythm of the music. Needless to say, it captured the attention of all passersby, who have never seen anything like this before – a day for the tigers!

After arriving at the Press Club, the discussion session started promptly at the Press Club auditorium in which Prof. Md. Anwarul Islam spoke as the keynote speaker and as one of the special guests. The session was presided over by Mr. Md. Abdul Mutaleb. Dr. Hasan Mahmud spoke as the chief guest and other speakers included special guests Dr.Mihir Kanti Majumder and Professor Kazi Zaker Husain, Mr. Enayetullah Khan, Mr. Ishitiaq Uddin Ahmed, Mr. Salek Shahriyar, Senior Executive Marketing from Banglalink, Mr. Khasru Chowdhury, Environment & Forest advisor of the Daily Prothom Alo and a representative from the World Bank.

It came as a great pleasure to know that this day was proposed for the Global Tiger Day by Dr. Hasan Mahmud during the Asian Ministerial conference held in Thailand in January. Judging by the different conservation measures, including the decision to open dialogues with India for trans-boundary conservation of Bengal tigers, it is evident that the government is taking a genuine interest in conserving the country’s national pride.

In Khulna

The FD and WTB brought out a rally from the Khulna Circuit House. A discussion session began in the District Commissioner conference hall at around 9:30 am in which Dr Monowar Islam, Director General of the Directorate of Environment, Mr. Akbar Hossain, Conservator of Forest (Khulna Circle) and Mr. Suprio Chakma from WTB were also present.



In Satkhira

The day was observed with more vigour and colours in the Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira district. A bright rally consisting of all members of Forest Tiger Response Team and Village Tiger Response Teams was brought out from Munshiganj. The FD arranged a discussion session in the head office of Sushilon, a local NGO. Mr. Abdus Samad, the District Commissioner (DC) of Satkhira spoke as the chief guest while other guests included Mr. Ashim Joarder, UP Chairman of Burigoalini, Mr. Shahin Hossain, coordinator of the NGO, BARCIK and Mr. Modinul Ahsan, participatory management coordinator of WTB.




The most noteworthy part of the event was that nearly all the participants were villagers comprising the forest resource users and farmers whose lives are directly or indirectly affected by the Sundarbans and tigers. The zeal with which these low-income groups took part in the programmes of Tiger Day is truly laudable and shows that if they are made aware and educated about wildlife conservation, they would most likely become the ultimate guardians of the Sundarbans as well.

To sum it all the MoEF and the FD together did a remarkable work. The Tiger Day observance in the three regions proved to be very participatory and engaging as a result of which the ordinary citizens at least got the essence of tiger conservation.

Wildlife Act on the way to amendment

The cabinet approved the new Wildlife Preservation Act 2010 in principle. WTB assisted the FD prepare this new law that has integrated the latest international conventions and laws including local people participation in forest and wildlife management and severe punishments to protect endangered species including our Bengal tigers. Following the example of India the new law has fixed punishment as high as 50 lakh taka with minimum imprisonment of 12 years to maximum lifetime imprisonment for killing any critically endangered species.

We heartily welcome the government’s pro conservation initiatives to secure Bangladesh’s bio diversity and we only hope that these initiatives go a long way.

Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

Response teams gain momentum!

We have good news to share again in this update - June 9th saw another report on tiger attack incident on the newspapers. A fisherman named Saiful along with two others from Shayamnagar Upazila in Satkhira district had gone fishing in a creek inside the forest. Suddenly a tiger attacked them and killed Saiful while his other two mates fled from the spot. Later in the evening when the members of Kolagachia village tiger response team, Enamul, Liton, Asgar, Mannan and others, heard this news from Saiful’s two other mates, they immediately offered to help. This team was formed just a week earlier and yet, new as they were, they helped their fellow villagers recover the victim’s body safely from the tiger and handed it over to the deceased’s family for burial.



Modinul, Ashraful and Yasin have completed forming the village based response teams in Satkhira range. These teams are made up of local villagers who step forward as volunteers to provide this service to their community.

With the help of such teams the Sundarbans Tiger Project hopes to provide field level assistance to the villages adjacent to Sundarbans during different tiger attack incidents. It is likely that the village tiger response teams of Sundarbans will become an effective way for the villagers to deal with conflict situations.

Field trip knocking at the door

After holding a series of workshops and meetings, it is now time to test the information on various tiger related issues that we have so far collected from our different partners. Until now we had only engaged secondary stakeholders (NGOs, media, local school teachers) in our workshops and discussions, sitting in air conditioned rooms. Now we are going to step out of this urban comfort and wear the shoes of our primary stakeholders in the grass root level, i.e. the honey collectors, fishermen, golpata collectors and many more – after all they are the principal groups who affect and are affected first by tigers and the Sundarbans. So we can’t possibly exclude them from anything that we do for tiger conservation. On the contrary, we must work with them and engage them in our activities.

From KAP survey pix

We are going to approach these local communities of the Sundarbans to test our assumptions of some burning issues in which their behaviours are involved. For instance we guess that villagers beat stray tigers to death because of animosity toward the animal. Then again our field experience says that villagers’ attitude toward the stray tiger is not always that of animosity - many young men believe that it is very macho and brave to kill a tiger. However, all of these are only assumptions. If we are to do any campaigns in future about tiger conservation, we have to use the right message and for this right message we need facts not assumptions. This is why we need to uncover the truth by doing an important survey that will test the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of these people about tigers.

Travis and Rezvin are working upon the research methodology of this survey, which, once peer reviewed and finalised, will give a green signal to the rest of the team to move ahead. Iqbal is taking care of the logistical support and will be running focus group discussions during the survey. Interviews will be conducted by the local youths, preferably by members of the village tiger response teams. All interviewers will be trained for this task by Rezvin, Iqbal and Nazneen. The survey will run through mid-July till mid August in four villages namely Mirgang, Kalabogi, Sarankhola and Chandpai from four forest ranges.

However, this is not the end. After finishing the village survey, we will again embark on a national survey in four divisions - Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong.

All the while the survey team will be lodged on a boat and plunged into a raging coastal monsoon and rolling waves! Bon voyage!

Meeting with the FD

On June 10, Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) had a meeting with the Forest Department (FD) at their office in Bana Bhaban located in Agargaon.

The purpose for the meeting was to offer our strategy development process for FD’s review and to collect their feedback on it. Though the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan (BTAP) has provided guidelines to conserve tigers in the next eight years, it hasn’t given any detailed strategy and implementation plan that includes activities, responsibilities and budgets. So in order to keep up with the BTAP’s conservation rules, WTB is developing another strategy to complement the BTAP.



Our core areas for review were assessment of target (tiger, prey and habitat) viability, threat prioritization and behaviour change process. We also introduced Miradi software that we are using to manage our work with the FD team.

Some suggestions that came up from the workshop included merging our strategic action plan with those of the FD and other partners, namely USAID Integrated Protected Area Co management (IPAC) and SEALS who are presently working in the same region. In that way instead of having three different action plans, we would have one for every one to focus upon. It was also recommended to train more FD field staff and include them in all types of surveys conducted by WTB.
The meeting consisted of the WTB team, FD staff including regional Mr. Md. Abdul Mutaleb (Chief Conservator of Forest), Mr. Tapan Kumar Dey (Conservator of Forests, Wildlife & Nature Conservation Circle), Mr. Md. Akbar Hossain(Conservator of Forests, Khulna) and Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs). We are developing an action plan that will specify the exact actions needed to conserve tigers.


Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

Addressing tiger-human conflict

We appreciate the role our existing Forest Tiger Response Team (FTRT) played during the different tiger-attack incidents in the Sundarbans from May 12 to May 17. Goni, Khairul, Tanvir and their team acted swiftly on hearing the tiger attack news and on three occasions recovered the dead bodies of the victims. On another three tiger attack incidents they helped rescue injured people from the forest and quickly transferred them to hospitals.

The task of forming additional village-based response teams that was earlier taken on by Modinul, Yasin and Ashraful is progressing well. They have completed meetings with all the Upazilla Nirbahi Officers (UNO) and the District Commissioners (DC) of Satkhira, Barguna and Khulna. Now having taken the approvals of the local administration and completing all formalities, Modinul and his team will finally roll up their sleeves and get to forming the village teams, the first of which will be formed in Burigoalini, a village of Satkhira.

Deer poaching survey

In the end of April, Samiul Mohsanin a tiger scholar of Sundarbans Tiger Project (STP) started a deer (prey) poaching survey to investigate the scale of prey meat consumption at eight upazillas adjacent to the Sundarbans. Prey reduction is a serious threat to any tiger population and there are signs that it is occurring in the Sundarbans with “snaring” being a common practice along with other traps of different kinds. The market for deer meat consumption is thought to be largely local, but the overall scale of the problem is unknown.




This study will also help us understand people’s attitudes toward legislation and conservation factors associated with prey poaching and consumption.
A total of 800 households were selected randomly for the survey. Samiul was assisted by STP’s wildlife technicians Mizan, Alam and field assistants Hanif and Liton. They started from Dacope and moved on to Koyra, Shyamnagar, Mongla, Morrelganj, Sharankhola, Mathbaria and Pathorghata. They also investigated at least 10 hotels from each upazilla to check if they sell deer meat. To reach the households in different places the team had to rely on different modes of transport– from motorcycle or hand driven boat to hiking because some places were so remote and inaccessible that walking was the only solution.

The team encountered good weather conditions except a few rainy days at the beginning. However, soon after the survey ended there was a hurricane alert for the Cyclone Laila in the coasts. During the field work the team had glimpses of wildlife in and around the Sundarbans including a variety of birds some amphibians, a medium sized King Cobra and some mammals such as rhesus macaques, spotted deer and small-clawed otters. After 22 successful working days the team completed collecting data on 18 May 2010. The results of the survey will be published in a couple of months, so interested readers will have to wait for the next update to know the outcome.

Stepping out of the boat

Earlier in March we held a workshop for five days on a boat to develop a Communication, Education, Participation (CEPA) roadmap for tiger conservation that would function in line with the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan. Mr.Frits Hesselink, the lead author of CEPA toolkit, facilitated the workshop. Recently, he has included news about our workshop in his organization’s website. To see it, please press the
Link

Nearly all threats to tigers are directly or indirectly linked to human behaviours. In order to conserve tigers, therefore, we have to manage human behaviours to come up with win-win solutions for both tigers and humans. That is why we are working on this behaviour change pathway. During the workshop we identified the key groups and their behaviours that are critically affecting the tigers and the Sundarbans. We also needed to prioritise these tarhet groups and their behaviours to make our work more specific.

However, due to lack of time, we could not finish this behaviour change pathway during the workshop. So back in the office we used the workshop inputs to develop it further. We also wanted our previous participants to know about the completed pathway so that they could give their feedback on that. As a result we arranged a follow up workshop after a month’s interval.



Our second workshop was held on May 12, but this time not on a boat. This day long workshop began in the conference room of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) with Mr. Enayetullah Khan Chairman of WTB making an inauguration speech and Prof. Md Anwarul Islam, CEO of WTB following next. As tiger conservation is a huge task that involves a large network and the participation of people from different walks of life, we tried to include representatives from a wide number of NGOs of whom some were present in the previous workshop and some were attending for the first time. With the help of the participants we prioritized the behaviours of the target audiences and in this way made our work more specific otherwise it would have been difficult to change so many behaviours all at once.

We also introduced “Miradi” to the participants. Miradi is conservation management software that has various uses in conservation projects. However, it has not yet become popular in Bangladesh and many organizations still do not know much about it.

Finally we held an open discussion with the participants to find out the different ways our potential partners could collaborate to conserve the tigers and the Sundarbans.

Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

P.S. We need some volunteers for a survey that we are planning to carry out from July to October. Anyone interested can contact on the following email -

tigerdata@gmail.com

Addressing tiger-human conflict

We appreciate the role our existing Forest Tiger Response Team (FTRT) played during the different tiger-attack incidents in the Sundarbans from May 12 to May 17. Goni, Khairul, Tanvir and their team acted swiftly on hearing the tiger attack news and on three occasions recovered the dead bodies of the victims. On another three tiger attack incidents they helped rescue injured people from the forest and quickly transferred them to hospitals.

The task of forming additional village-based response teams that was earlier taken on by Modinul, Yasin and Ashraful is progressing well. They have completed meetings with all the Upazilla Nirbahi Officers (UNO) and the District Commissioners (DC) of Satkhira, Barguna and Khulna. Now having taken the approvals of the local administration and completing all formalities, Modinul and his team will finally roll up their sleeves and get to forming the village teams, the first of which will be formed in Burigoalini, a village of Satkhira.

Deer poaching survey

In the end of April, Samiul Mohsanin a tiger scholar of Sundarbans Tiger Project (STP) started a deer (prey) poaching survey to investigate the scale of prey meat consumption at eight upazillas adjacent to the Sundarbans. Prey reduction is a serious threat to any tiger population and there are signs that it is occurring in the Sundarbans with “snaring” being a common practice along with other traps of different kinds. The market for deer meat consumption is thought to be largely local, but the overall scale of the problem is unknown.




This study will also help us understand people’s attitudes toward legislation and conservation factors associated with prey poaching and consumption.
A total of 800 households were selected randomly for the survey. Samiul was assisted by STP’s wildlife technicians Mizan, Alam and field assistants Hanif and Liton. They started from Dacope and moved on to Koyra, Shyamnagar, Mongla, Morrelganj, Sharankhola, Mathbaria and Pathorghata. They also investigated at least 10 hotels from each upazilla to check if they sell deer meat. To reach the households in different places the team had to rely on different modes of transport– from motorcycle or hand driven boat to hiking because some places were so remote and inaccessible that walking was the only solution.

The team encountered good weather conditions except a few rainy days at the beginning. However, soon after the survey ended there was a hurricane alert for the Cyclone Laila in the coasts. During the field work the team had glimpses of wildlife in and around the Sundarbans including a variety of birds some amphibians, a medium sized King Cobra and some mammals such as rhesus macaques, spotted deer and small-clawed otters. After 22 successful working days the team completed collecting data on 18 May 2010. The results of the survey will be published in a couple of months, so interested readers will have to wait for the next update to know the outcome.

Stepping out of the boat

Earlier in March we held a workshop for five days on a boat to develop a Communication, Education, Participation (CEPA) roadmap for tiger conservation that would function in line with the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan. Mr.Frits Hesselink, the lead author of CEPA toolkit, facilitated the workshop. Recently, he has included news about our workshop in his organization’s website, the link to which is -
Link

Nearly all threats to tigers are directly or indirectly linked to human behaviours. In order to conserve tigers, therefore, we have to manage human behaviours to come up with win-win solutions for both tigers and humans. That is why we are working on this behaviour change pathway. During the workshop we identified the key groups and their behaviours that are critically affecting the tigers and the Sundarbans. We also needed to prioritise these tarhet groups and their behaviours to make our work more specific.

However, due to lack of time, we could not finish this behaviour change pathway during the workshop. So back in the office we used the workshop inputs to develop it further. We also wanted our previous participants to know about the completed pathway so that they could give their feedback on that. As a result we arranged a follow up workshop after a month’s interval.



Our second workshop was held on May 12, but this time not on a boat. This day long workshop began in the conference room of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) with Mr. Enayetullah Khan Chairman of WTB making an inauguration speech and Prof. Md Anwarul Islam, CEO of WTB following next. As tiger conservation is a huge task that involves a large network and the participation of people from different walks of life, we tried to include representatives from a wide number of NGOs of whom some were present in the previous workshop and some were attending for the first time. With the help of the participants we prioritized the behaviours of the target audiences and in this way made our work more specific otherwise it would have been difficult to change so many behaviours all at once.

We also introduced “Miradi” to the participants. Miradi is conservation management software that has various uses in conservation projects. However, it has not yet become popular in Bangladesh and many organizations still do not know much about it.

Finally we held an open discussion with the participants to find out the different ways our potential partners could collaborate to conserve the tigers and the Sundarbans.

Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

Addressing tiger-human conflict

We appreciate the role our existing Forest Tiger Response Team (FTRT) played during the different tiger-attack incidents in the Sundarbans from May 12 to May 17. Goni, Khairul, Tanvir and their team acted swiftly on hearing the tiger attack news and on three occasions recovered the dead bodies of the victims. On another three tiger attack incidents they helped rescue injured people from the forest and quickly transferred them to hospitals.

The task of forming additional village-based response teams that was earlier taken on by Modinul, Yasin and Ashraful is progressing well. They have completed meetings with all the Upazilla Nirbahi Officers (UNO) and the District Commissioners (DC) of Satkhira, Barguna and Khulna. Now having taken the approvals of the local administration and completing all formalities, Modinul and his team will finally roll up their sleeves and get to forming the village teams, the first of which will be formed in Burigoalini, a village of Satkhira.

Deer poaching survey

In the end of April, Samiul Mohsanin a tiger scholar of Sundarbans Tiger Project (STP) started a deer (prey) poaching survey to investigate the scale of prey meat consumption at eight upazillas adjacent to the Sundarbans. Prey reduction is a serious threat to any tiger population and there are signs that it is occurring in the Sundarbans with “snaring” being a common practice along with other traps of different kinds. The market for deer meat consumption is thought to be largely local, but the overall scale of the problem is unknown.




This study will also help us understand people’s attitudes toward legislation and conservation factors associated with prey poaching and consumption.
A total of 800 households were selected randomly for the survey. Samiul was assisted by STP’s wildlife technicians Mizan, Alam and field assistants Hanif and Liton. They started from Dacope and moved on to Koyra, Shyamnagar, Mongla, Morrelganj, Sharankhola, Mathbaria and Pathorghata. They also investigated at least 10 hotels from each upazilla to check if they sell deer meat. To reach the households in different places the team had to rely on different modes of transport– from motorcycle or hand driven boat to hiking because some places were so remote and inaccessible that walking was the only solution.

The team encountered good weather conditions except a few rainy days at the beginning. However, soon after the survey ended there was a hurricane alert for the Cyclone Laila in the coasts. During the field work the team had glimpses of wildlife in and around the Sundarbans including a variety of birds some amphibians, a medium sized King Cobra and some mammals such as rhesus macaques, spotted deer and small-clawed otters. After 22 successful working days the team completed collecting data on 18 May 2010. The results of the survey will be published in a couple of months, so interested readers will have to wait for the next update to know the outcome.

Stepping out of the boat

Earlier in March we held a workshop for five days on a boat to develop a Communication, Education, Participation (CEPA) roadmap for tiger conservation that would function in line with the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan. Mr.Frits Hesselink, the lead author of CEPA toolkit, facilitated the workshop. Recently, he has included news about our workshop in his organization’s website, the link to which is -
Link

Nearly all threats to tigers are directly or indirectly linked to human behaviours. In order to conserve tigers, therefore, we have to manage human behaviours to come up with win-win solutions for both tigers and humans. That is why we are working on this behaviour change pathway. During the workshop we identified the key groups and their behaviours that are critically affecting the tigers and the Sundarbans. We also needed to prioritise these tarhet groups and their behaviours to make our work more specific.

However, due to lack of time, we could not finish this behaviour change pathway during the workshop. So back in the office we used the workshop inputs to develop it further. We also wanted our previous participants to know about the completed pathway so that they could give their feedback on that. As a result we arranged a follow up workshop after a month’s interval.



Our second workshop was held on May 12, but this time not on a boat. This day long workshop began in the conference room of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) with Mr. Enayetullah Khan Chairman of WTB making an inauguration speech and Prof. Md Anwarul Islam, CEO of WTB following next. As tiger conservation is a huge task that involves a large network and the participation of people from different walks of life, we tried to include representatives from a wide number of NGOs of whom some were present in the previous workshop and some were attending for the first time. With the help of the participants we prioritized the behaviours of the target audiences and in this way made our work more specific otherwise it would have been difficult to change so many behaviours all at once.

We also introduced “Miradi” to the participants. Miradi is conservation management software that has various uses in conservation projects. However, it has not yet become popular in Bangladesh and many organizations still do not know much about it.

Finally we held an open discussion with the participants to find out the different ways our potential partners could collaborate to conserve the tigers and the Sundarbans.

Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

Addressing tiger-human conflict

We appreciate the role our existing Forest Tiger Response Team (FTRT) played during the different tiger-attack incidents in the Sundarbans from May 12 to May 17. Goni, Khairul, Tanvir and their team acted swiftly on hearing the tiger attack news and on three occasions recovered the dead bodies of the victims. On another three tiger attack incidents they helped rescue injured people from the forest and quickly transferred them to hospitals.

The task of forming additional village-based response teams that was earlier taken on by Modinul, Yasin and Ashraful is progressing well. They have completed meetings with all the Upazilla Nirbahi Officers (UNO) and the District Commissioners (DC) of Satkhira, Barguna and Khulna. Now having taken the approvals of the local administration and completing all formalities, Modinul and his team will finally roll up their sleeves and get to forming the village teams, the first of which will be formed in Burigoalini, a village of Satkhira.

Deer poaching survey

In the end of April, Samiul Mohsanin a tiger scholar of Sundarbans Tiger Project (STP) started a deer (prey) poaching survey to investigate the scale of prey meat consumption at eight upazillas adjacent to the Sundarbans. Prey reduction is a serious threat to any tiger population and there are signs that it is occurring in the Sundarbans with “snaring” being a common practice along with other traps of different kinds. The market for deer meat consumption is thought to be largely local, but the overall scale of the problem is unknown.

This study will also help us understand people’s attitudes toward legislation and conservation factors associated with prey poaching and consumption.
A total of 800 households were selected randomly for the survey. Samiul was assisted by STP’s wildlife technicians Mizan, Alam and field assistants Hanif and Liton. They started from Dacope and moved on to Koyra, Shyamnagar, Mongla, Morrelganj, Sharankhola, Mathbaria and Pathorghata. They also investigated at least 10 hotels from each upazilla to check if they sell deer meat. To reach the households in different places the team had to rely on different modes of transport– from motorcycle or hand driven boat to hiking because some places were so remote and inaccessible that walking was the only solution.

The team encountered good weather conditions except a few rainy days at the beginning. However, soon after the survey ended there was a hurricane alert for the Cyclone Laila in the coasts. During the field work the team had glimpses of wildlife in and around the Sundarbans including a variety of birds some amphibians, a medium sized King Cobra and some mammals such as rhesus macaques, spotted deer and small-clawed otters. After 22 successful working days the team completed collecting data on 18 May 2010. The results of the survey will be published in a couple of months, so interested readers will have to wait for the next update to know the outcome.

Stepping out of the boat

Earlier in March we held a workshop for five days on a boat to develop a Communication, Education, Participation (CEPA) roadmap for tiger conservation that would function in line with the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan. Mr.Frits Hesselink, the lead author of CEPA toolkit, facilitated the workshop. Recently, he has included news about our workshop in his organization’s website, the link to which is -
Link

Nearly all threats to tigers are directly or indirectly linked to human behaviours. In order to conserve tigers, therefore, we have to manage human behaviours to come up with win-win solutions for both tigers and humans. That is why we are working on this behaviour change pathway. During the workshop we identified the key groups and their behaviours that are critically affecting the tigers and the Sundarbans. We also needed to prioritise these tarhet groups and their behaviours to make our work more specific.

However, due to lack of time, we could not finish this behaviour change pathway during the workshop. So back in the office we used the workshop inputs to develop it further. We also wanted our previous participants to know about the completed pathway so that they could give their feedback on that. As a result we arranged a follow up workshop after a month’s interval.

Our second workshop was held on May 12, but this time not on a boat. This day long workshop began in the conference room of Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB) with Mr. Enayetullah Khan Chairman of WTB making an inauguration speech and Prof. Md Anwarul Islam, CEO of WTB following next. As tiger conservation is a huge task that involves a large network and the participation of people from different walks of life, we tried to include representatives from a wide number of NGOs of whom some were present in the previous workshop and some were attending for the first time. With the help of the participants we prioritized the behaviours of the target audiences and in this way made our work more specific otherwise it would have been difficult to change so many behaviours all at once.

We also introduced “Miradi” to the participants. Miradi is conservation management software that has various uses in conservation projects. However, it has not yet become popular in Bangladesh and many organizations still do not know much about it.

Finally we held an open discussion with the participants to find out the different ways our potential partners could collaborate to conserve the tigers and the Sundarbans.

Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

Awareness & Education Workshop: All in the same boat

From March 13 to 17 we had a workshop on “Developing a Conservation Education and Community Outreach Strategy for Tiger Conservation in Bangladesh.” The workshop was held on a boat that left Dhaka with thirty two participants including the facilitator, Mr. Frits Hesselink (former Chair of the IUCN Commission on Education & Communication) from the Netherlands. Mr. Malcolm Whitehead (Head of Discovery & Learning) from the Zoological Society of London was present as a joint facilitator. Other participants consisted of the WTB members, Forest Department (FD) officials, members from different NGOs. The objective of the workshop was to create a platform from which prospective partners can collaborate and participate in developing a multi-stakeholder communication strategy for tiger conservation in Bangladesh.

As we departed from the chaos and intense pollution of the Dhaka outskirts the noise and industry slowly gave way to villages and finally the serene Sundarbans. The workshop proved to be very engaging and unlike any other traditional workshops. There were various activities for the participants including fieldwork in which we conducted interviews of the local villagers. We also shared success stories of past conservation efforts and also played “brain-games” that required the players to innovate to win. Through these we learnt that behavioural change is sometimes emotional and it is easier if it is a shared experience. Besides some other elements, it also requires meaningful interaction and an understanding of the context.

Then again through the session of “Prioritising Behaviour Change,” we decided on the most important issues affecting the Sundarbans, identified the key audiences involved and prioritized behaviour change accordingly. This activity opened up the scope for exploring the change pathways of each target audience by again identifying their knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP). Once we analysed the KAP for each audience, we thought of the various communication interventions that could be implemented to bring about the desired behaviour change.

Upon reaching the southern edge of the Sundarbans forest we left the boat and departed on foot for the final expedition to the vast Bay of Bengal where we even engaged in mud fights. Finally, on March 17 we made our way back to the familiar Dhaka to meet the huge task awaiting us – forming the communication strategy!



Testing the tiger survey

In March we started a study that will test key aspects of our tiger abundance survey and help us improve our monitoring approach. The tiger abundance survey is a Sundarbans wide survey of tiger track frequency – the assumption being that more tiger tracks = more tigers. However, a certain number of tigers will still make a range of different numbers of track sets. So, we need to measure how big this range of track sets is so we can work out how much change in the overall population we can detect.

Naser Hossain (Assistant Conservator of Forests in Forest Department) is heading this survey with the help of Alam, Mizan, and Khairul. Prof. Dave Smith (University of Minnesota), Prof. George Gale (King Mongkut University), Prof. Tommasso Savini, and Adam helped Naser finalise the methodology and start the survey off. The results of the survey will be used by Naser for his MS at King Mongkut University so we are able to build capacity in the FD at the same time as answering important research questions. Naser and his team have the daunting task of surveying the Sundarbans three times. We wish them luck for the finish.



Building More Tiger Teams

Dr John Lewis who visited us in January to help train up our/FD staff in tiger immobilization has updated his organization’s website to include us! Through this PR, Wildlife Vets International are trying to raise funds to help arrange more training, and also to find a support vet who can come and work together with Mahbub to develop both Mahbub's wildlife vet skills and also those of the FD. For details please click the Link

As a part of our Community Outreach strategy, we need to build community teams to address tiger-human conflict and develop a Tiger-Human Conflict (THC) protocol. The protocol will be based on research of the spatial and temporal distribution of tiger attacks in the Sundarbans. The objectives of the community teams are to reduce the retaliatory killing of stray tigers by villagers, decrease human sufferings due to tiger attacks in the Sundarbans and help improve the relationship between the FD and the local people. The two types of teams that will be formed in Khulna, Satkhira and Sharankhola ranges are Village Tiger Response Team (VTRT) and Forest Tiger Response Team (FTRT). This work is being led by Modinul and his team, who left for Khulna in March. They are already in the process of building liaisons with the local government administrative staff which includes District Commissioners (DC), Upazilla Parishads (UP) Chairmen and local Members of Parliament (MP).

We have also supplied the FD with their first set of veterinary equipments including tranquilizing materials as a part of our capacity building scheme within the FD. The FD now have the skills and equipment to try and anaesthetise stray tigers, but they will need the support of the local people if they are going to avoid future killings.

Experiencing Chittagong: A land of tobacco

Our research officer Suprio Chakma sent us an interesting report based on his field experiences in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). He is still in the field conducting a survey on tiger presence in the CHT and also to find out if the region has potential to sustain tigers in the future. In his words, his work includes “forming survey team, travelling through rough terrain, experiencing cultural diversity and of course realising the threats on biodiversity.” The team has gone as far as the Bangladesh-India-Myanmar border in search of tiger footprints and prey species. Suprio observes that among the large prey species, barking deer are common while Sambar deer are surviving in low numbers in the few remaining forest patches. Asiatic black bears also exist, but they face threat of local extinction due to hunting.

Apparently large scale hunting of wild animals is being carried out by the indigenous people, skins and body parts of wild animals are commonly found in local households. Massive tobacco cultivation has also found its way into the large parts of the region. Suprio adds that once the CHT was famous for cotton production but now it has turned into a land of tobacco.



Forest Protection & Legislation

An important section of the Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan (BTAP) is to enact and implement sound laws with regards to tiger conservation. As a part of this plan the Forest Department (FD) has to upgrade their existing laws and make them more effective. We are helping the FD achieve this by reviewing the Wildlife Act and the Forest Act.

Christina Greenwood and Tamanna Rahman submitted the initial comments on the latest draft of the Wildlife Act to the FD and are continuing to work on a document to provide further comments on the Wild Life Act and Forest Act. They are summarising the relevant international conventions and legislations of other countries and developing recommendations from this research.

Compiled by
Nazneen Ahmed
Dhaka

News from the field 63 – February 2010

These last few months have been packed with work, so much so that it has been impossible up until now to find time to update this website. So here is some extended news for all you Sundarbans tiger people.

Dead tiger
In the early hours of 22nd January a tiger was discovered several kilometres into a village in Satkhira. The WTB team were asked by the FD and a local politician to help so we came from Dhaka to Satkhira by road as fast as we could. Coincidently we had with us Dr. John Lewis of Wildlife Vets International, who had just arrived that day to help direct a workshop. We thought that if we could reach there in time we may have been able to help the FD immobilise the tiger and transport it to back to the relative safety of the forest. The WTB-FD Tiger Response Team were on the sight early on and helped keep everything quiet while the FD staff arrived, together with some Bangladesh Rifles staff (BDR). Normally in these types of situations the tiger is killed very quickly but the FD, BDR, and local politician were able to coordinate the villagers so that the tiger remained safe for over 12 hours. Unfortunately as the day progressed the crowd swelled too many thousands and tensions built on all sides as the tiger sheltered in a village hut. Near sundown the situation became overwhelming for the authorities and the tiger was beaten to death by the crowd.



The crowd came from nearby villages but also from many kilometres away, and the village at the centre of things suffered theft and some damage to buildings from the visitors. The WTB team arrived an hour and a half too late. We examined the body and estimated, from the tooth wear, that the tiger was about 4-5 year old (basically in the prime of life). The tiger was female and appeared well fed and otherwise uninjured apart from the blows received from the villagers. It was sad indeed to see such a great animal’s life wasted. There were several lessons learnt from this incident; that the authorities can control the situation for a certain number of hours, but that they need specialist skills available to immobilize tigers so that be taken away from danger.

Immobilisation workshop
The FD and WTB conducted a workshop for FD staff on wild animal capture and immobilisation, at the FD’s safari park at Cox’s Bazaar. The workshop was first inaugurated during a meeting at the FD offices in Dhaka, by the Minister (MoEF), Secretary (MoEF), Chief Conservator of Forests, the Conservator of Forests (Wildlife Circle), and Professor Anwarul Islam (WTB).



The lead instructor was Dr. John Lewis, an experienced wildlife vet with specialisation in felids. The three day workshop covered overviews of animal capture techniques, anaesthesia techniques, and scenario planning. There were 30 participants; many from the Sundarbans but also some FD Wildlife staff from other areas. This workshop is one of many steps the FD and WTB are taking to help reduce tiger human conflict in the Sundarbans. More, time, planning, resources and work are needed to make a big impact on this serious issue.



Team building
Having helped the Forest Department (FD) formulate the first ever Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan (BTAP), the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh is all too aware of the huge task ahead of us if we are going to secure the future of tigers in the country for generations to come. Small scale efforts just won’t work; the size of the challenge means that we have to all join forces from the village to the policy makers if we are going to make any significant change for the better. WTB is keen to build up in-country capacity for tiger conservation so have recently hired seven new staff, with support from Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The new staff are helping managing WTB’s tiger project, developing tiger-human conflict mitigation actions, and building up a new education and awareness campaign. The new staff bring skills is journalism, marketing, project management, animal health, website design, forestry, and zoology; complementing the broad range of skills needed for tiger conservation.

Improving forest protection
An important objective of the BTAP is to improve protection of the Sundarbans, and the European Union have a project to do just that: The Sundarbans Environment And Livelihood Security (SEALS) project. As part of this project, WTB was commissioned by the EU to help the FD plan improvements for forest protection. To do this WTB and FD conducted a survey to catalogue the current state of protection, and then conducted a series of workshops to formulate a plan for future protection. The survey of current state involved visiting each and every guard post in the Sundarbans and making an exhaustive list of facilities, staff, and patrolling effort. If the survey was a physical marathon then the workshops were a mental one, but despite the long days, the FD staff were keen to put in the extra hours to ensure that the final plan was a good one.

Hill tracts survey
The BTAP notes the importance of evaluating the potential of the Chittagong Hill Tracts for future tiger conservation. There were tigers in this area before but there have been no verifiable reports of tiger presence in the last two decades. The chances of tigers still living in this area are probably low but we must have a look to be sure, because it would be a tragedy if there were tigers still in the hill tracts but we weren’t doing anything to save them. Even if there aren’t tigers in the hill tracts at the moment there is in any case the potential to restore the forest and tiger prey – and there may be still tigers in the adjoining forests in India and Myanmar that may repopulate the area. Wild dreams perhaps but not impossible. WTB will survey the area over the next year and a half; Suprio Chakma, a native of the area will build a team of local trackers to check the remaining forest for tiger and tiger prey. Many weeks of hard field work await Suprio and his team; updates of his progress will be posted each month on this web site.

Prioritising conservation actions
Md. Aziz (Assistant Professor at Jehanginagar University, and WTB staff) completed a paper that outlines the threats to tigers in the Sundarbans and the relative rank of each threat based on their estimated impact. The paper was submitted and presented at an environmental conference in Dhaka organised by BAPA. This document will now go through further revisions and reviews before finalisation and use to prioritise actions in the BTAP. If this bit of work sounds a bit dry, on the face of it that’s true, but without planning what to do and in what order is one of the biggest risks to the tigers.

Paper on climate change
WTB also helped author a WWF lead paper that modelled the possible future effects of sea level rise on the Sundarbans and its tiger population. The analysis used high resolution elevation maps and ranges of predicted sea level rise to help improve understanding of this threat to tigers. On the face of it the results look pretty grim: a potential major loss of tiger habitat in the next 70 years. However, the paper was clear to point out that there are other factors that may also effect loss of tiger habitat through inundation; siltation, tectonic shift, and mangrove adaptation. At ground level, new land is being accreted (gained), rather than lost overall along the Bangladesh coast and in the Sundarbans new islands are building up and water channels appear to becoming shallower instead of deeper. However, the take home message of this paper is that sea-level rise is a major threat which needs mitigation now, rather than waiting to see what happens before we act. The paper is available from: Link

Adam Barlow and Christina Greenwood
Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh
Dhaka

News from the field 61 - UPDATED! (October 2009)

CONTENTS:
1. News update

(1) NEWS UPDATE:

Big news for Bangladesh tigers! The Forest Department of Bangladesh has approved the first ever Bangladesh Tiger Action Plan. The plan is free to download from http://www.bforest.gov.bd/tiger_plan.php. The plan was created by the Forest Department with support from The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh, Zoological Society of London, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and University of Minnesota. The plan outlines the threats to tigers, prey, and habitat. The plan also described the challenges that must be overcome to achieve tiger conservation objectives. The plan then gets into the nuts and bolts of what we have to do to secure the tiger population for the coming years.



As you will see from the plan, saving tigers in Bangladesh is going to need everyone's help; from local people living near the Sundarbans to the media, general public, academic institutions, and policy makers. also, it seems clear from the plan that he only way to save our tigers is to work together; there is simply far too much work for one group to carry out. So what are you waiting for? Please read the action plan for ideas and then get involved before it is too late!

Training field trip to Chitwan National Park


It was my second visit to Nepal but first visit to Chitwan, one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. We were four people group went there to learn about the tiger and their prey secondary sign on hard tracks and other tiger related research has been practicing in Nepal. Hasan, Mizan and Alam were my team members; all are working in Tiger conservation with Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB). When we normally imagine about Nepal, it just an endless mountains country, but Chitwan zone is lush, flat fertile farmland and sub-tropical forest dominating by Sal trees.


At Narayanghat, the central city of Chitwan. Mr. Dhan Bahadhur Tamang the Chief Naturalist of Tiger Tops was waiting for us with a land rover and took us to Chital Lodge where we stayed. Rooms were equipped with two beds. In the afternoon we went for a short walk to see the community forest habitats near to Meghauli Air Port where sometimes Tiger and Rhino visit. In Chital lodge the food was very basic, expensive but nothing to complain about.

The park requires at least two guides when traveling through the park, primarily for safety reasons. Our guides were Jib Lal, Baburam and Indra. We got our park permit right at the entrance near Meghauli Air Port. It was the first day of exploring the park; team members walked quite fast in my opinion, I would have prefered a little slower pace, to save some power for later. We did not bigan early in the morning because of the foggy environment, which made the wildlife less visible; rhinos often chase and kill human when encountered. As soon as we entered inside the community forest a hog deer ran away just few meters from us and when we crossed the transparent Rapti River by boat we saw dozens of different animal signs. There was no need to say how rich the wildlife was inside the park.

We carried a big stick; according to Baburam’s instructions, we would need it to face the rhinos if they were encountered. We were lucky to apply the stick before we left when we met two rhinos that were grazing adjacent the road. The whole river bed was covered with lots of stones of every imaginable size and shape. We crossed the entire park over five days, having lunch in tiger tops and each day staying outside the park, according to regulations, after a long hike. The sandy and hard muddy trail with long elephant and buffalo grass growing on either side continued through riverine forest dominated by Bombax tree, grasslands and finally Sal (Shorea robusta) forests on the western side of Reu River where tiger tops is situated. There were several houses in the lodge which had a beautiful round central wooden made dining hall, with a gigantic round thatched roof that rises maybe more than 35 feet up to the top.

On the way, we also passed an army checkpoint, but one day we took a different route to make a quicker return. Having the army guarding the park and protecting the wildlife from poachers was a new idea to us. Along the trails wild animal secondary sign were tracks of the tigers, leopards, rhinos, deer, rabbits, mongoose and many other animals. Tracks were everywhere: tigers, rhinos, leopards, sloth bears, jungle cats, golden foxes, deer hooves were all seen in the first day. The smell of tiger spray was in the whole forest. When we were resting for a few minutes near the staff dormitory of tiger tops we saw two rhinos were crossing the Reu River. It was first the experience for us to see rhino in the wild. After taking lunch and introduction with tiger top staff, we visited the forest north-western side of tiger tops and learned about camera trapping.

On the second day inside the park, it was a first experience for Alam and Mizan to climb on hill but they enjoyed it, as did the other members. We climbed the temple hill and on the way we saw termite mounds, tiger and leopard scraps on the ground, sloth bear feces, and of course smell of tiger spray. Baburam could identify each tiger by its tracks and described to us about each tiger/tigress name, age and history. When we followed a different route to return to our destination, Baburam saw some tiger marks that he said were very fresh and may have been made only 10 minutes before. After a few seconds we heard the different sounds (alarm call) of langurs and they (Baburan, Indra and Jib) started to follow the call. What can be compared to chase a tiger!! Our experienced guys were just thundered at this moment and asking what is going? It was different scenario from the Sundarbans and unforgettable memory and experience to all of us. This day we followed different route and came back through the Baghmara check post and some other villages certainly longer hike than previous day and I believe everybody was thinking; how I am going to feel tomorrow; legs are going to be sore…so we decided to hire bicycle for the next day.

Continuing third day we rode a bicycle up to Rapti river bank and walked to tiger tops, had lunch then climbed on Churia hill as far as Kala Pattar (Black rock). It was amazing to watch Chitwan from the hill top. We have seen some amazing secondary signs of tigers, leopards, and of course lots of untouched nature including snow covered mountain ranges. We came down from the hill and met with Dhan Bahadur; the most experienced person with at tiger tops, who was waiting for us near Patrakhola (I am not sure of the name) river, where poachers killed a rhino the first week of this month. We saw the rhino carcass and took some photographs. Dhan Bahadur showed us tracks from a tiger known as Rhino-eater. It was almost 8.30 pm when we reached to our lodge.



The next day we had no hike but everybody woke up the same time as they did last couple of days. We had breakfast in a relaxed mood, waiting for Dhan Bahadur as planned. At nine he arrived and we rode on a tiger tops jeep, leaving our big luggage in Chital lodge. After about one and half hours drive we arrived at Bharatpur airport and had lunch together, and got on a tourist bus. We were fortunate that that day tourists were few and we got a seat. The bus followed a big flat, smooth road towards the west and finally we reached Taru lodge and saw the wonderful, eco-friendly accommodation made of natural materials. It was quite and peaceful atmosphere and I think there lock system must be outside the boundary (entrance) because there were no locks on the doors. There was a hot shower that was very difficult to ignore after a long journey in cold weather. We felt the lodge was really expensive, but Marcus managed it for one night for us. Thanks to Marcus.

The manager of Taru lodge Mr. Dhan Bahadhur Chowdhury (DBC) welcomed and briefed us and invited to visit Jotayu (Vulture) Restaurant, an idea developed by him and run by Birds Conservation Nepal (BCN). He is a nature lover and also a member of BCN. We took a shower and had tea and reached there after 25 minutes drive, met with the people who are engaged with the vulture conservation programme. They showed us their small museum and briefed us about their activities. There is a small store inside the museum where one can buy postcards, stamps, T-shirts and a few guide books. At 7pm we entered in dining hall where they served several drinks and we enjoyed a cultural programme (Taru dance) followed by dinner.

Today we had two options; first to return back by local bus to Meghauli and second walk through a long way inside the park. We were not yet re-fueled though we had a very good dinner and breakfast. Our legs were not strong enough to walk but we were determined to walk; otherwise we would miss out on the company of Dhan Bahadur Tamang (DBT), so we all decided to walk and finally because we have learned so much from him. DBT has been working with Tiger Tops as well as with eminent tiger biologists for 40 years. The manager gave us a Safari jeep up to Narayani River bank where two other boat drivers were waiting for us. We crossed the river and started to walk along the river bank like carpet of different size stones and again crossed the river and walked and finally said good bye to boat drivers. Every day, Dhan shared his lifetime experience dealing with tiger and also showed many places where both tiger and rhinos used to come to drink and for minerals. We had lunch again in Tiger top lodge, showed Sundarbans pictures and talked about our activities and finally said goodbye to the staff who all did their best during our visit. When we were almost finishing out the day’s hike then we saw 9 peacocks in 3 different groups and it was the first time experience in the wild for us to see the beautiful bird.

It was last day of long walk, and this time in a different direction towards Kasara, the headquarter of Chitwan National park, 18 km from Chital lodge. We followed the road inside the village. It was sunny and hot day, with very few trees overhead, not unusual weather pattern but nice to walk inside the village to see the countryside but I was able to take some pictures of butterflies, lizards and a snake. We visited national park HQ, museum and surrounding areas and again a long walked before catch a bus to Meghauli. When we reached to Chital Lodge it was sun set. We were suffering by the time we all had dinner together!!!


The next day everybody woke up late, went for a walk in front of lodge and relaxed. At 10 Baburam and Raju came with 2 camera traps, showed us how to operate them and where we should put them etc. We all individually practiced for a few hours and finally checked the camera trap photographs in the laptop. In the afternoon we visited Baburam’s house as well as Taru community. Jib and Dhan Bahadur also joined with us.

It was a mixed feeling to leave the lovely Chitwan and the people. At 7 am Baburam and Dhan Bahadur came with their Land Rover to lift us up to Narayanghat from where we changed our vehicle. Before we left Chital we distributed small gifts from our side (WTB T-shirt) to, Jib, Dhan, Baburam, Raju and Indra. It was a sad moment to say good bye to all of them. We reached Kathmandu at late afternoon after facing a horrible traffic jam. In the evening Marcus came to see us at Potala guest house and discussed about our experience, ongoing tiger workshop. The discussion was followed by a heavy dinner offered by Marcus himself.

Overall we spent the some days in Chitwan National Park. We had a pretty fantastic time. I felt the service was excellent; we got a lot of individual attention from the staffs (at both Tiger tops, Taru Lodge and the Chital Lodge). The Tiger top staffs have been making enormous contribution to tiger and other wildlife conservation. The guides were great (especially Baburam Mahato). No word is enough to acknowledge to Marcus Cotton, Dhan Bahadur Chowdury, Dhan Bahadur Tamang and finally Adam and Christina. Unfortunately, we did not see any wild tigers at Chitwan, although we saw lots of fresh tiger footprints all over the place and we were very close to an encounter. There are apparently also leopards and sloth bears at Chitwan, although they are very elusive and rarely seen. Having a viable population of tiger, rhinos and many flagship species is no doubt to consider Chitwan a success story, despite a recent bout of rhino poaching.

We were bitten/sucked by so many invertebrates (particularly I was sucked by leeches and mites) and I am still itching now, the itches serve as a reminder of a difficult yet rewarding trip through Chitwan National Park.

Suprio Chakma
Dhaka

News from the field 61 - UPDATED! (March-September 2009)

CONTENTS:
1. Field Update
2. Positions available to work on tiger conservation with Wildlife Trust of
Bangladesh
3. Call for VOLUNTEERS!!

(1) FIELD UPDATE: The heavy monsoon rains did not manage to stop the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh’s tiger conservation activities. We finished off the big report on the current state of Sundarbans forest protection that will be used to guide future protection strategies. We also completed a report on our tiger abundance survey. This survey showed that there was probably a small increase in the Sundarbans tiger population from 2007 to 2009, but that some areas of the forest may benefit (have more tigers in the future) by increased protection measures.



Down near the Sundarbans, the main thrust of WTB’s field work has been focused on dealing with the age old problem of human-tiger conflict. Modinul, Mizan, Alam, and Khairul worked with Forest Department officers to design and coordinate a training programme for Forest Department staff stationed near on the Sundarbans border, where sometimes stray tigers enter villages and are killed by the local people. This training came after the tragic loss of two tigers that were killed by villagers over the monsoon. In both incidents the Forest Department reacted quickly and tried their best to prevent the tigers being killed but were unable to prevent the villagers killing the tigers. WTB’s training programme is designed to reduce such killings by giving FD staff additional skills to deal with these dangerous incidents involving tigers in villages. Training was given in how to separate the villagers and the tiger, and how to react to the tiger’s behaviour so that both people and tiger are kept safe long enough for the tiger to return to the forest. Training was also given on tiger ecology, behaviour, and conservation so FD had baseline information on tigers that could help them make good decisions if faced with a stray tiger. The training programme still needs to be further developed and institutionalised if it is going to have a long-term effect. Furthermore, we need to find ways of including the villagers in the response to a stray tiger so that they can work together with the FD to sort out the problem. So far two of the four FD range offices have received training, and in both cases FD staff were enthusiastic to learn the new skills. Two more range offices will receive training in November. This does not meant that all future tiger killings can be avoided; FD staff will also need additional skills, and villagers will have to be engaged before the programme becomes truly effective. But some steps forward have been made, and with a bit of hard work the situation will improve over the next couple of years.

Other members of the team (Christina and Adam) have been learning from efforts from another tiger project in Thailand (http://www.thailandtiger.org/). This project is looking into habitat selection and home range size of tigers in a dry deciduous habitat of the Western Forest complex. They also use camera-traps to monitor changes in the tiger and its prey over time. An exciting development for this tiger forest is that they (the government and Wildlife Conservation Society) are piloting a new training and monitoring programme incorporating MIST software (http://www.ecostats.com/software/mist/mist.htm) to improve the levels of protection in the area. Such a system may also improve protection of the Sundarbans in the future.



We also were learning from a WWF staff working on a tiger project in Kuiburi, where they aim to increase the tiger population. For more info:
http://www.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/thailand/publications/?90660/Tracking-Tigers-in-Kuiburi-National-Park-Thailand

On a different note, we also visited a Fishing cat conservation project in Khao Sam Roi Yod. This project is using radio telemetry and camera trapping to find out more about this little know cat. A surprisingly large number of cats have been found in the area, and the project leader (Namfon Cutter) is also working with local people to create innovative solutions that meet the needs of people and fishing cat alike. The project web site (http://fishingcatproject.info/index.php) is well worth a visit.



(2) WANT TO WORK IN TIGER CONSERVATION? The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh is looking to recruit staff in Bangladesh to help them develop their conservation efforts. The following positions are currently available:

Position: Conservation Programme Coordinator Start date: November, 2009 Duration: 2 years. Work description: This is a challenging role supporting the Conservation Programme Manager in the management of all WTB tiger projects to drive an integrated and successful conservation effort. Duties will include: strategic planning; preparing proposals and liaising with national and international donors; developing and monitoring project workplans and budgets; establishing project management processes; managing projects and teams; preparing financial and programme status reports; developing strategies for sustainable funding models. On the job training will be given during the first two years with a view to promotion to the position of Conservation Programme Manager in year three. The role will be based between Dhaka and Khulna, with occasional field trips. Applicants will have an excellent academic record with a first class undergraduate degree in any discipline, although preference is for a background in management or another social science. MS is desirable. Most important is a proven track record in project and programme delivery and an active interest in conservation. Excellent organisational and prioritisation competence, attention to detail, and leadership skills.

Position: Research & Forest Protection Coordinator Start date: November, 2009. Duration: 2 years. Work description: This role is supporting the WTB Research Manager in the management of research efforts aimed at informing tigers conservation in Bangladesh. Duties will include developing, implementing, and evaluating a research strategy focused on tigers in Bangladesh. The work will also include: fundraising, training, methodology design, and coordinating the research team’s field activities. On the job training will be given during the first two years with a view to promotion to the position of WTB Research Manager in year three. The position will be based in Khulna with lots of field work and occasional trips to Dhaka. A MS or PhD is required in a relevant subject, and field experience is desirable. Other requirements include strong analytical and decision making skills. GIS skills and experience of ecological research are highly desirable.

Position: Participatory Management & Community Outreach Coordinator FILLED

Position: Participatory Management & Community Outreach Officer Start date: November, 2009 Duration: 2 years. Work description: Support Coordinator to liaise with the local communities bordering the Sundarbans and the Forest Department to help design, develop and implement participatory management initiatives aimed at improving tiger conservation in the Sundarbans. Requirements: Experience in co-management work. Excellent communication skills. Fluent in Bengali and able to write reports in English.

Position: Awareness & Education Coordinator Start date: Oct/Nov, 2009 Duration: 1-2 years. Work description: Design and implement local, national and international conservation strategy and associated programme aimed at increasing awareness of tiger conservation issues. Requirements: Excellent Bengali and English communication skills. Proven writing skills and some previous relevant experience. Applicant must able to work well in a team, have proven leadership skills, and have both strategic level and implementation level ability.

Position: Awareness & Education Officer Start date: Nov, 2009 Duration: 1-2 years Work description: Assist Awareness & Education Coordinator to design and implement projects. Requirements: Must be prepared to travel throughout Bangladesh and spend considerable time in local communities bordering Sundarbans. Fluent in Bengali with good spoken English.

ALL POSITIONS are full time and for a min. 2 year contract including on the job training. Four month probationary period. Applicants must have excellent Bangla and English written and verbal skills, and literacy in common Microsoft Office applications. Understanding of conservation and climate issues a must. Graduate applicants welcome, although must be exceptional self starter with proven ability to complete complex projects.

Application process: All applications to be sent via email. No postal applications accepted. Please email (1) CV, (2) one written page describing why you think you would be good for the position and your motivation for the work, and (3) an example of a report or other piece of writing you have written in English, to tigerdata@gmail.com. Include your contact mobile phone number so that we can contact you if needs be, and be prepared to have an interview in Dhaka. We will only contact those applicants who have made it to the interview stage.

Closing date for applications: 21 Oct 2009. If the correct applicant for a position is not found, the deadline will be extended.

Potential salary is dependent on applicant's skill and experience. Details will be provided to successful applicants. All positions are full time positions with the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh.

(3) Call for VOLUNTEERS! We'd really like to build up a database of volunteers from both inside and outside of Bangladesh who can help with tiger conservation activities. The idea is that we will build a list of those of you who would like to help together with your email contact details, and then when opportunities to help arise, we can send out a group email to see if any of you are available to help!

We particularly call out to Bangladesh students who would like to get some experience in the field in Sundarban as we sometimes have spaces available on our field surveys. These could also develop into ideas for your MS or PHD. Or there might be those of you up in Dhaka who would like to help - we have activities based in Dhaka too.

Some ideas for those of you outside Bangladesh: we'd really like to hear from people who have skills in web design and who could help us to rennovate our website; also, any medics out there who would like to help us to develop a first aid manual which provides a specialist set of first aid methods for dealing with tiger attack victims. Plus any other ideas you can all think of!

So please do write to us on tigerdata@gmail.com if you'd like to volunteer, including: how you'd like to become involved (e.g. sundarban field work, project work based in Dhaka, a remote piece of work that can be done from abroad e.g. the website), the skills you have or would like to develop, and what time you have free.

Adam Barlow & Christina Greenwood
Dhaka

And remember to write with ideas on how you could help to save tigers in Bangladesh to tigerdata@gmail.com.

News from the field 60 - UPDATED! (April 2009)

CONTENTS:
1. Field Update
2. Positions available to work on tiger conservation with Wildlife Trust of
Bangladesh
3. Call for VOLUNTEERS!!

(1) FIELD UPDATE: This time last year we were having a good thunderstorm at least once a day. This year, however, the rain clouds have not appeared. As far as I can tell it is hottest it’s been in April for the last 5 years (up to 43 C). It is so hot in fact that it has forced the tiger project into a drastic course of action that it would never have previously considered; we have bought a fridge! It may be the cheapest, smallest fridge in Khulna (possibly in the world) but it is now a valued member of the team and never fails to deliver cold water when we need it. The field teams, however, can only dream of cold water as they fry on top of the boats and get cooked in amongst the trees.

In an extension to the prey survey, this month Hasan lead a team along the boundary area of the sundarbans to assess the prey levels there and to try and identify factors that may explain the distribution of livestock killing by tigers. They managed to do a total of 129 transects along the boundary, using three teams of data recorders, assistants, and Forest Guards. In this case the lack of rain was a bonus because the teams were recoding prey pellets and tracks which may have been washed away by a heavy storm.



Meanwhile, the rest of the tem have been busy with a totally different type of survey. Naser, Suprio, Alam, and Mizan are conducting a study to assess the current protection status of the Sundarbans. If that sounds like a big undertaking, that’s because it is. There are different parts of the survey but the main bit of field work involves visiting every single guard post in the Sundarbans to catalogue all the resources available for forest protection and to assess how the forest is currently being patrolled. They have to document every building, jetty, boat, and staff and look at how often each guard post are patrolling. The idea is to use this baseline information for the Forest department to then decide how they would like to change or improve the current protection levels. So far the survey has done all of the eastern part except for Dubla. They couldn’t make it to Dubla because the boats they were using could not cope with the rough conditions of the rivers closer to the sea face. There are strong southerly winds whipping up the waves, so much so that both teams were at times at some risk. Naser’s team got caught on a sand bank in the Boleshwar river with waves crashing over the side until they were able to free themselves and a nearby Forest Department trawler came to the rescue. Suprio and Alam also got smashed around in the river coming down the Sela river past Teachar and Sapla posts. Naser put it simply enough when he got back to Mongla to refuel; “perhaps we shouldn’t do surveys in May next year”. But the team are not going to quit half way through a survey and have decided on what they call “the bigger boat and life jacket strategy”.



Out of the forest, the team has been boosted by another addition to the WTB staff; a Forest Department ACF (Modinul) has joined us to apply his considerable experience in co-management for tiger conservation in the Sundarbans. He spent his first week attending meetings and traveling throughout the local communities bordering the forest to make contacts in the villages and to start understanding all the issues. In Satkira he met up with the boat-based tiger response team of Goni and Jihad. The response team have had a tough season, having to respond to many cases of tiger attacks, sometimes having to help retrieve bodies from the forest, and other times giving first aid and transport to injured persons. They must have the most dangerous job in the forest.

The next month will see the end of the protection survey (hopefully without further high seas adventures) and a lot of report writing of all the activities the project has done since January. If anyone has any rain they would like to donate to the project please send it to us as soon as possible.


(2) WANT TO WORK IN TIGER CONSERVATION? The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh is looking to recruit staff in Bangladesh to help them develop their conservation efforts. The following positions are currently available:

Position: Conservation Programme Coordinator Start date: 1st April, 2009 Duration: 2 years. Work description: This is a challenging role supporting the Conservation Programme Manager in the management of all WTB tiger projects to drive an integrated and successful conservation effort. Duties will include: strategic planning; preparing proposals and liaising with national and international donors; developing and monitoring project workplans and budgets; establishing project management processes; managing projects and teams; preparing financial and programme status reports; developing strategies for sustainable funding models. On the job training will be given during the first two years with a view to promotion to the position of Conservation Programme Manager in year three. The role will be based between Dhaka and Khulna, with occasional field trips. Applicants will have an excellent academic record with a first class undergraduate degree in any discipline, although preference is for a background in management or another social science. MS is desirable. Most important is a proven track record in project and programme delivery. Excellent organisational and prioritisation competence, attention to detail, and leadership skills. Closing date of application: 31st May 2009 and selected applicants will be invited for interview.

Position: Research & Forest Protection Coordinator Start date: As soon as possible. Duration: 2 years. Work description: This role is supporting the WTB Research Manager in the management of research efforts aimed at informing tigers conservation in Bangladesh. Duties will include developing, implementing, and evaluating a research strategy focused on tigers in Bangladesh. The work will also include: fundraising, training, methodology design, and coordinating the research team’s field activities. On the job training will be given during the first two years with a view to promotion to the position of WTB Research Manager in year three. The position will be based in Khulna with lots of field work and occasional trips to Dhaka. A MS or PhD is required in a relevant subject, and field experience is desirable. Other requirements include strong analytical and decision making skills. GIS skills and experience of ecological research are highly desirable.
Closing date of application: 31st May 2009 and selected applicants will be invited for interview.

Position: Participatory Management & Community Outreach Coordinator FILLED

Position: Participatory Management & Community Outreach Officer Start date: May-June, 2009 Duration: 2 years. Work description: Support Coordinator to liaise with the local communities bordering the Sundarbans and the Forest Department to help design, develop and implement participatory management initiatives aimed at improving tiger conservation in the Sundarbans. Requirements: Experience in co-management work. Excellent communication skills. Fluent in Bengali and able to write reports in English. Closing date of application: May 31st and selected applicants will be invited for interview.

Position: Awareness & Education Coordinator Start date: Oct, 2009 Duration: 1-2 years. Work description: Design and implement local, national and international conservation strategy and associated programme aimed at increasing awareness of tiger conservation issues. Requirements: Excellent Bengali and English communication skills. Proven writing skills and some previous relevant experience. Applicant must able to work well in a team, have proven leadership skills, and have both strategic level and implementation level ability. Closing date of application: 30th Sept, 2009 and selected applicants will be invited for interview.

Position: Awareness & Education Officer Start date: Nov, 2009 Duration: 1-2 years Work description: Assist Awareness & Education Coordinator to design and implement projects. Requirements: Must be prepared to travel throughout Bangladesh and spend considerable time in local communities bordering Sundarbans. Fluent in Bengali with good spoken English. Closing date of application: 30th Oct, 2009 and selected applicants will be invited for interview.

Application process: Please Email (1) CV, (2) one written page describing why you think you would be good for the position and your motivation for the work, and (3) an example of a report or other piece of writing you have written in English, to wildlife@citechco.net. Include your contact mobile phone number so that we can contact you if needs be, and be prepared to have an interview in Dhaka.

If the correct applicant for a position is not found, the deadline will be extended.

All successful applicants will undergo a 2 months probationary period before starting their official appointment in the position.

Potential salary is dependent on applicant's skill and experience. Details will be provided to successful applicants. All positions are full time positions with the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh.

(3) Call for VOLUNTEERS! We'd really like to build up a database of volunteers from both inside and outside of Bangladesh who can help with tiger conservation activities. The idea is that we will build a list of those of you who would like to help together with your email contact details, and then when opportunities to help arise, we can send out a group email to see if any of you are available to help!

We particularly call out to Bangladesh students who would like to get some experience in the field in Sundarban as we sometimes have spaces available on our field surveys. These could also develop into ideas for your MS or PHD. Or there might be those of you up in Dhaka who would like to help - we have activities based in Dhaka too.

Some ideas for those of you outside Bangladesh: we'd really like to hear from people who have skills in web design and who could help us to rennovate our website; also, any medics out there who would like to help us to develop a first aid manual which provides a specialist set of first aid methods for dealing with tiger attack victims. Plus any other ideas you can all think of!

So please do write to us on tigerdata@gmail.com if you'd like to volunteer, including: how you'd like to become involved (e.g. sundarban field work, project work based in Dhaka, a remote piece of work that can be done from abroad e.g. the website), the skills you have or would like to develop, and what time you have free.

Adam Barlow & Christina Greenwood
Khulna

And remember to write with ideas on how you could help to save tigers in Bangladesh to tigerdata@gmail.com.