Bangladesh’s illicit trade in wildlife is expanding, driven by an escalating demand for tiger body parts that has turned the country into a key transit hub for international trafficking syndicates and eroded big cat populations. Conservationists point to the smuggling of tiger parts as the primary threat to the species’ survival.

Wildlife experts report that much of the contraband originates in and around the Sundarbans — spanning tigers, crocodiles, deer, snakes, tokay geckos, turtles and sharks. Sustained demand from China and East Asian countries has intensified illegal hunting in the mangrove forest, casting a shadow over Bangladesh’s observance of International Tiger Day on Wednesday.

Archival newspaper reports indicate that poachers have killed nearly 200 tigers in the Sundarbans since 1960, with experts believing the true figure to be substantially higher. Law enforcement agencies have seized more than 100 tiger skins and body parts over this period. The syndicates orchestrating the slaughter, however, have routinely evaded prosecution. The Forest Department maintains no definitive tally of the losses either.

As the country’s largest remaining tiger habitat, the Sundarbans faces compound threats from climate change and human encroachment, with poaching posing an acute risk. Hunters have targeted the animals for decades to supply the illicit trade in skins, bones and organ derivatives.

“There’s relentless international demand for tiger skins, bones, teeth and other body parts,” said Professor Anwarul Qadir, a long-time researcher of crime in the region. “That commercial incentive has driven hunting for years, with armed forest bandits now joining the trade. The Sundarbans has become an exceptionally hostile environment for the species.”

Under Section 36 of the Wildlife Conservation Act, tiger poaching is a non-bailable offence carrying two to seven years’ imprisonment and fines ranging from BDT 100,000 to BDT 1,000,000.

The Sundarbans and Bangladesh Coastal Protection Movement, a civic advocacy group, criticised the law’s enforcement as ineffective and demanded legislative amendments to heighten deterrents. The group warned that the loss of its apex predator would trigger the ecological collapse of the Sundarbans, risking a wider environmental crisis across Bangladesh.

Nirmal Kumar Pal, divisional forest officer for wildlife management and nature conservation in Khulna, identified three principal threats: “Poaching, the depletion of prey species such as deer and habitat degradation”. The government has launched several targeted conservation initiatives across the Sundarbans in recent years, he said.

Imran Ahmed, forest conservator for the Khulna region, acknowledged personnel shortages but insisted agencies were aggressively enforcing the law and that the Forest Department, police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Coast Guard and River Police are conducting joint operations to intercept poachers and bandits.

“We’ve announced financial rewards for informants — BDT 50,000 for intelligence leading to arrests inside the forest and BDT 25,000 outside,” Ahmed said. “But legal enforcement alone can’t solve this; it requires public cooperation and community engagement.”

Law enforcement officials, forest officers and local residents describe a highly structured poaching network. Operatives take cash advances from financier-backers, known locally as “godfather mahajans”, before entering the forest under cover of legitimate activity. Hunters deploy firearms, snares or poisoned bait — often lacing deer or goat carcasses with lethal toxins. Tigers consuming the bait die or become incapacitated, allowing poachers to slaughter them with minimal effort.

Carcasses are stripped of skin, meat, fat, skull, teeth, genitalia and bones, which are harvested and sold at high margins to international traffickers feeding resilient black-market demand.

Environmental stress further exacerbates these pressures. Professor Abdullah Harun Chowdhury of Khulna University’s environmental science department noted that climate-induced sea-level rises are submerging the forest floor and fragmenting territorial ranges. Adding to the distress, rising water salinity causes organ disease in tigers, while others succumb to age or extreme weather events.

“Unplanned tourism, heavy commercial vessel traffic, unchecked logging and localised prey shortages are all eroding the ecosystem,” Prof Chowdhury added.

He said: “Declining deer populations periodically leave tigers short of prey. During those periods, tigers cross rivers and canals and stray into nearby villages, where residents often beat them to death.”

Forest officials contend that human-wildlife conflict has eased. AZM Hasanur Rahman, divisional forest officer for the Sundarbans West Division, claimed no tigers have strayed into human settlements since 2018, and retaliatory killings have ceased.

To consolidate protection efforts, the forest ministry approved the BDT 359.38 million Sundarbans Tiger Conservation Project in March 2022. The initiative, which combined a comprehensive population census with active habitat management, concluded its mandate in March this year.

According to the forest division, Bangladesh has conducted nine tiger surveys since its independence, though assessments prior to 2015 lacked rigorous scientific methodology. The latest 2024 census recorded 125 tigers in the Sundarbans — a 9.65 percent increase on 2018 figures and a 17.92 percent rise over 2015. Field teams logged an additional 21 cubs, though these were excluded from the official count due to high juvenile mortality rates.

Mohammad Amir Hossain Chowdhury, chief conservator of forests, cited a broader ecological recovery over the past seven years, noting that tourists visiting the Sundarbans in recent months have reported more frequent sightings of tigers moving through the forest and swimming across rivers. The populations of the species tigers prey on have also increased, he said.

“Between 23 and 52 percent of the Sundarbans is now designated as reserved forest to secure breeding grounds, population growth and unhindered movement,” the chief conservator of forests said. “Tigers seek higher ground during the breeding season. So we’ve constructed artificial earthen mounds alongside freshwater ponds in core territorial zones. The Forest Department, police, RAB, Coast Guard and River Police are working jointly to prevent tiger poaching.”