DM Monitoring
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police have arrested a suspected wildlife poacher believed to have killed at least 70 endangered Bengal tigers in more than two decades, police said.
Local police chief Saidur Rahman on Tuesday said Habib Talukder – nicknamed Tiger Habib for his hunting skills – lived near the vast Sundarbans mangrove forest and would flee whenever officers raided the area. The 50-year-old suspect was sent to jail pending trial after he was arrested on Saturday at his home in southern Bagerhat district, Rahman said.
The mangrove forest region straddling India and Bangladesh, home to one of the world’s largest populations of Bengal tigers, was Talukder’s hunting ground.
The cats’ pelts, bones and even the flesh would be bought by black market traders who would sell them in China and elsewhere. Talukder started out collecting honey from wild bees in the forest and became a local legend for his exploits hunting the big cats and avoiding arrest. “We equally respect him and are scared of him,” said local honey hunter Abdus Salam. “He’s a dangerous man who could fight alone with mama (tiger) inside the forest.”
Wanted in a number of cases filed under the wildlife conservation law, Talukder had been on the run for a long time, Rahman said. He might have links with gangs operating in the Sundarbans for poaching wild animals, the officer said. Talukder, who frequently ventured into the forest despite a ban on him, is formally charged for the hunting of three tigers and five deer, forest official Joynal Abadin said.
