subject: The Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sunderbans [print this page] The Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sunderbans The Royal Bengal Tiger of the Sunderbans
The Sunderbans is the world's largest mangrove forest out of which one third is in India and two thirds is in Bangladesh. The tributaries of the Ganges river runs through these mangrove forests bringing silt from the plains. No wonder, these forests have experienced tremendous growth of mangroves and other plants. The Ganges then empties itself in the Bay of Bengal. The Ganges River is known to have the world's largest delta. The Sunderbans is are home to the most dangerous tiger on the planet, the man eating royal Bengal Tiger. It is the second largest tiger after the Siberian Tiger but much more deadly as it roams the villages at night and would not bat an eyelid before snatching a baby. However both countries regard the Bengal Tiger as their national pride and it is also the national animal of India. However people are worried after the incidents of human killings that have taken place over the last few years.
The Royal Bengal Tiger can swim in the tributaries for longer distances and hence can travel quite far in search of its next pray. People are however finding a solution to keep the tiger away form their village. But the number of tigers in the world has decreased so dramatically that it is officially banned to kill the tiger. So what do the people do next? The villagers called an expert from abroad who was a dog trainer and this trainer decided to train the village local dogs to bark loudly and scare the tiger away in case it came near the village. The villagers have found this as an ideal solution as the tiger is not killed and the method does not cost a bomb to implement.
The man eating phenomenon of the tiger has not been seen in any other place on the planet. A tiger would only become a man eater in case he becomes too old to catch prey. But the Bengal Tiger kills about 200 to 300 humans ever year. The experts have also done research to find out as to why these tigers have gone after human lives and they have concluded that the natural prey for them is not easy to find. Even though the tiger has brought so many deaths to the villages, the villagers regard the royal animal as one of their gods called Daskin Ray. There is even an annual festival every year to please the lord.
There have also been cases of attacks in the boat where the tiger silently swims from behind and then catches hold of one of the man and pulls him in the river. There is also a small tiger museum in one of the villages. The Indian Government has also launched operation save tiger which creates awareness of the presence of the tiger as a very important part of the ecosystem. You as a citizen can take part in this awareness campaign by not buying any parts of the tiger such as tiger teeth and tiger skin.
The author if this travel article is Kunal Vashalia. He loves to write travel related articles as he himself is a travel agent of 7 years. He started off with doing Mumbai tours as he loves his city and would like to show the bright side of it. However he also does tours out of Mumbai such as Lonavala and Pune excursions. Do visit his website, www.namastecitytour.com for more details.
