How climate change is affecting the Royal Bengal Tiger

Migration induced by climate change is driving the Royal Bengal Tiger from its natural habitat, and into closer, more-and-more tragic contact with humans, according to experts quoted in a report by bdnews24. This has led to the number of Royal Bengals still in the wild dwindling dramatically in recent years, with some estimates putting the current population below 200.

A survey carried out in 2004 put the Tiger population at 419, but that survey was based on pugmarks (footprints), and some experts dispute the reliability of such a survey. They believe pugmarks can be unique identifiers of animals only if the soil texture is conducive to that.

Reports suggest up to a dozen of the big cats are killed every year in encounters with humans from the villages in the outskirts of the Sundarbans. The tigers are said to be straying there in search of prey, as more and more of the Sundarbans' wild boar and deer populations, the tigers' usual prey, are wiped away by the accelerated incidence of cyclones and tidal surges.

The report also said most of the villagers are not well-informed on how to 'deal with the tiger', and blames the Forest Department officials with there.

Aye, but if you're killing a dozen Royal Bengal Tigers, you've got to know something.