No haven for wildlife

Wild animals are getting killed on a regular basis either being hit by vehicles or trains in the Lawachhara forest under Moulvibazar.

Moreover, exposed live wires running through the forest and lack of proper monitoring often escalate the danger the animals are already in.

Around 15km stretch of the Sreemangal-Kamalganj road passes through the forest and hundreds of vehicles use the road everyday. As a result, wild animals often fall victim to reckless driving.

A barking deer was killed after being hit by a train while crossing the track last week, said forest department sources.

The same day, a Phayre's leaf monkey (chosmapora banar) came in contact with an exposed live wire, leaving it dead on the spot near the track, they added.

Also, on November 11, another deer was killed after being hit by a passenger bus, and on the night of August 17 a monkey became a roadkill.

According to Tabibur Rahman, assistant conservator of wildlife under the forest department, around 50 animals like monkey, deer, fox, fishing cat, snake and large Indian civet died in accidents during the last seven to eight months.

The rights activists, however, alleged the number is much higher and accidents occur on a regular basis but often get ignored.

“Many times monkeys upon seeing a train try to escape by swinging from one branch to another. While doing so, they often mistake the exposed wires as branches…,” said Javed Bhuian, joint convener of Lawachhara Forest and Wildlife Conservation Committee. “Active efforts should be launched to check for hazardous exposed live wires and fix them.”

Contacted, Shivu Lal Basu, general manager of Rural Electrification Board of Bangladesh Moulvibazar, said, “The power lines are more than 20 years old. We have already sent a requisition to the higher authorities for new wires with safety covers.”

Also, a major reason behind the accidents is reckless driving, said assistant conservator Tabibur. Many animals come out at night in search of food and get hit by speeding vehicles, he said.

He said the forest department has put up signs warning the drivers. “We try to alert people on driving slowly when animals are seen crossing the road. But we do not have enough manpower to launch a comprehensive campaign. We need support from the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in this regard.”

He recommended regulating traffic after 10:00pm and if needed reroute it through Noorjahan Road, which is just 2/3km away.

While driving along the road recently, this correspondent saw only four warning signs. The signs were small and hardly noticeable while one was partially torn.

“There has to be a stringent law against reckless driving,” said Sharif Jamil, joint secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa), Sylhet chapter. 

A more effective solution will be to divert the road and the rail line away from the forest, he said. “There is so little of wildlife left, preventive measures have to be taken immediately.”

Mihir Kumar Doe, divisional forest officer (wildlife), said the speed limit should not exceed 20km to 30km per hour while driving along the road and emphasised setting up speed-breakers and warning signs.

Seeking anonymity, an RHD official said they had set up speed-breakers before, but had to remove those since it increased incidents of robberies in the forest area.

“The road through the forest is zigzagged and the drivers are in a way forced to drive slowly,” said Utpal Samonto, executive engineer of RHD in Moulvibazar. For saving the wildlife, he also emphasised diverting the road away from the forest.