Conservationists in Bangladesh say an important Bengal tiger habitat hit by a deadly cyclone has been submerged by seawater, raising fears for endangered wildlife.
Cyclone Remal, which made landfall in low-lying Bangladesh and neighbouring India on Sunday evening, killed at least 38 people.
More than a million people fled inland to concrete storm shelters before the cyclone hit.
But climate experts say the vast Sundarbans mangrove forest straddling Bangladesh and India – where the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers meet the sea – took the brunt of the force.
Bengal Tigers Worst Affected
The UNESCO World Heritage Site, which hosts one of the world’s largest populations of Bengal tigers was swamped, said Mihir Kumar Doe, the head of Bangladesh’s southern forest department.
‘The entire Sundarbans was under water for more than 36 hours during the cyclone,’ Doe said. ‘All its freshwater ponds, numbering more than 100, were washed away by saline tidal water.’
At least 114 Bengal tigers live in Bangladesh’s area of the Sundarbans, according to official figures.
The area is also known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.
Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, Bangladesh’s senior forest official for the Sundarbans, had said he feared for the wildlife if the freshwater lakes were tainted.
‘We are worried,’ said Hossain. ‘These ponds were the source of fresh water for the entire wildlife in the mangroves – including the endangered Bengal tigers.’
The Sundarbans, the world’s biggest mangrove forest, is regularly battered by intense monsoon storms.
But Azizur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, said the cyclone was ‘one of longest in the country’s history’, blaming climate change for the event.
Mangroves grow mainly in seawater or brackish water but experts said the flooding was on a scale not witnessed before.
During the latest cyclone, areas nearer the sea were three metres underwater, while areas further upstream were under 1.2-1.5 metres of water.
Tiger expert Monirul Khan, zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University, said he feared smaller animals would be hardest hit.
‘I fear for the animals who are less strong such as spotted deer,’ he said. ‘Spotted deer are helpless to strong tides during cyclones or longer inundation of the forest. But Bengal tigers can climb trees.’
