The hunt lasted 20 years, and this time it was him. Habib Talukder, nicknamed Bagh Shikari (tiger hunter) was arrested last Saturday by the Bangladeshi police in the village of Madhya Sonatola. The poacher accused of killing at least 70 Bengal tigers, a species at high risk of extinction. Habib, 50, was hiding in the deepest recesses of the Sunderbans mangroves (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) when he learned that the police were on his trail.
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Former honey collector
The poacher was one of the many honey-gatherers in the jungle, then went on to hunt for the great predator whose bones (used in traditional Asian medicine) and skin or even meat he sold on the black market. In Bangladesh there were only 106 tigers left in 2015 compared to 440 in 2004. In the 2018 census the population had increased slightly to 114 individuals thanks to the suppression of poaching and banditry in the Sunderbans region, where Habib remains an almost legendary subject: We respect him and we fear him because he is the only one with the courage to hunt the tiger alone in the forest, commented one of the local honey collectors.
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June 1, 2021 (change June 1, 2021 | 15:03)
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