Five hundred Bengal tigers live in the largest mangrove forest on earth, situated on the border of India and Bangladesh. But so do more than a million humans. Every year the tigers attack up to 60 people, and only half survive to tell the tale. Nothing strikes more fear into the hearts and minds of the people of the Sundarbans - the vast river delta on the northern shore of the Bay of Bengal - than the word tiger. Even the mention of this word can send villagers into a blind panic. Eager to catch a glimpse of a tiger, I asked a passing fisherman if he had seen one on his travels that morning. Up to that point he had been happy to pass time with me - but immediately he packed up his crabs and left without a word. If you talk about the tiger, it will come, said my boatman. That is why. There is hardly a person here whose life hasnt been touched by a tiger in some way. Some areas are more prone to attacks than others. Between 2006 and 2008 several people were killed in Joymoni, a small village on the banks of the Pashur river, bordering the forest. In one of the attacks, a tiger burst through the bamboo walls of a hut in the middle of the night, and snatched an 83-year-old woman. Her son, Krisnopodo Mondol, who was in his late 60s at the time, heard her screams. Read more at; bbc/news/magazine-29987187
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 06:07:40 +0000
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