Quick Byte: Is The Home Of The Royal Bengal Tiger At Threat?
Vaishnavi Rai
“Lion always hunts its food himself”. I’ve heard this kind of stud phrase numerous times in movies and cartoons. My misfortune, I’ve seen lion only in a zoo, caged behind the bars. I have read news about lion or tiger reaching man’s region, attacking the cattle or human. Lion and tiger is a wild animal. My primary school books have taught me that wild animals eat flesh. I’ve watched on Discovery channel that wild animals love to hunt their prey. Mowgli has taught that the dead animal is left by Sher Khan. The point is that, wild animals are the free ones. Whatever they want, they love to catch their prey themselves. But I’ve never seen a lion hunting live, because the zoo isn’t a place to hunt. The wild animals are served with the flesh which is sufficient for their survival only, and insufficient for their livelihood. Serving them food in their cages, make them weak, unhealthy and lazy. They need a natural exercise which is forbidden there. And the tourists visiting them give mental and physical disturbance to the wild life. How bad the feeling is when the king of jungle becomes the source of entertainment for the people. It is another thing that the zoo has a tag of saving wild life, breeding and nurturing them. But, the truth is not hidden. How many zoo animals die annually on a global level is a number of concerns. We need to check out what is the position of those animals living in small cages. Keeping wild animals in a zoo is a modern technique of cruelty, where the animals aren’t tamed nor they are free also. Humans are snatching their rights. Forest is the home of wild life. We human are cutting the forests for industries. That’s why they are coming to the human place. It’s not those tongue less animals that are attacking our place, it’s humans who are attacking their shelter in the name of development. We need to understand that a heavy diet animal can’t live on served food. He should be free to find its food. We need to build wild life sanctuaries to save them and not the zoos to make them slave. It’s time to give up on zoos. Slavery hurts! Cruelty gives pain. Who can better understand this rather humans?
Sundarbans, the world’s largest delta is located between the Ganga and Brahmaputra delta. It is a UNESCO heritage site and the pride of India.
It is not only home to the royal Bengal tiger but also to many other unique species such as the Ganges dolphin, Sundarbans horseshoe crab etc.
Due to Amphan, there has been vast damage in Sundarbans. Apart from that, the causes of habitat loss in Sundarbans are:
Cutting of mangroves
Careless tourists who litter the place
Overfishing
A rise in sea level and salinity
Construction of projects like the Rampal coal plant that is destroying biodiversity
Sundarbans are the home of tigers and provide economic activities for local residents. If these are lost then it will be a major threat to tigers and biodiversity of India.
Awareness is a must and no power plant or developmental projects must be done near such a rich area of biodiversity. The government should plant more mangroves and they should take proper care of this place.
