The exact number of tigers living in the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans will be determined by 2019, officials conducting a census in the country’s lone natural tiger habitat have said.
The Bangladesh Forest Department is conducting the census in collaboration with WildTeam, an NGO working for tiger conservation using the camera trap method, the Dhaka Tribune reported on Friday.
The census, under the Bengal Tiger Conservation Activity project, began in November 2016.
The most recent census, which concluded in 2015, recorded only 106 tigers in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans, down from 440 in 2004.
The data collection for the census has been completed in the Satkhira range.
The work will be extended to the Khulna, Sharankhola and Chandpai ranges by 2019.
According to officials, primary monitoring and count in Satkhira began on December 1 and ended on March 15.