The day Bangabandhu surprised Guy Mountfort

A few days after Bangabandhu returned home in 1972, some high-ranking officials of the Bangladesh Forest Department met him. The team was led by the newly appointed Chief Conservator of Forests Abdul Hamid.

The first thing Bangabandhu asked them was: what is the state of my forests?

At the time, the war had ravaged our forests in the Sylhet, Tangail and the Sundarban regions. The maintenance of all forest areas in the country had collapsed and the delegation informed Bangabandhu of the situation.

Bangabandhu promised the delegation that his government would take action as soon as possible. The delegation had prepared a report listing all the losses. Bangabandhu said, as he was looking at the document, "I like your Bonkanya and Bonrani launches very much. If possible I will go to Sundarbans once, take care of the launches in the meantime."

Not long after, Guy Mountfort (a member of the British royal family, a famous ornithologist and a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund) came to meet Bangabandhu in October 1972.  

The state of East Pakistan's forests

Until the 1960s, there was no checklist of what kind of wildlife the country had. When the Pakistan Wildlife Appeal was formed in 1967, they appealed to the Wildlife Fund to send an expedition team of multidisciplinary experts to investigate the status of Pakistan's wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund agreed to help. Mountfort was the leader of the party and other members were George Shannon, Lord Fume and the then world renowned wildlife photographer Eric Hoskins.

At that time, Pakistan's Tourism Department was under the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC). GME Karim, one of the founders of wildlife conservation in Bangladesh, was responsible for the management of the expedition team.

The team first visited the then Sundarbans of East Pakistan, the jungles of Sylhet and the rain forests of Chattogram Hill Tracts. They documented all wildlife information and through the report we came to know how many types of wildlife there are in our country. 

In fact, Mountfort wrote an excellent book about the expedition – The Vanishing Jungle: The story of the World Wildlife Fund Expeditions to Pakistan (1969), Collins London. Interested readers can give it a read.

Guy Mountfort, on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund, convinced Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to take on the 'Tiger Conservation Project,' the first effective step to protect tigers in India. On 1 April, 1973, India launched the project.

Mountfort learned the condition of tigers in Sundarbans first-hand and also found traces of tigers in Chattogram Hill Tracts. Both the areas are adjacent to the Indian border. Mountfort understood that if the heads of government of both countries were interested in the tiger project, then the pristine environment of the subcontinent would be preserved, which is essential for densely populated areas. 

Three areas of the Sundarbans had already been demarcated as 'sanctuaries' under the direction of Mountfort. This time he came to request Bangabandhu to undertake the tiger project. 

Bangabandhu and the world's interest in wildlife

In October 1972, Bangabandhu gave Mountfort a lot of time and listened patiently, despite his busy schedule. In one sentence, he agreed to take up the project—if the cost of the project was borne by the World Wildlife Fund.

Bangabandhu's interest in tiger conservation surprised and impressed Mountfort. He has written in his book about his warm discussion with Bangabandhu and Father of the Nation's keen interest. Interested readers may refer to Mountfort's Saving The Tiger (1981), Publisher Michael Joseph, London ISBN 0-7181-1991-6.

And Mountfort had every reason to be surprised because in the 1970s, world leaders had little to no interest in wildlife.

For example, after the Chinese Communist Party came to power in the 1950s, food supply was cut off from all sides and the government was in dire straits. Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-tung rampantly destroyed forests and declared tigers as harmful animals as part of his 'Great Leap Forward' policy. 

At that time, out of nine subspecies of tigers in the world, three subspecies lived in China. Among them, there were some 400 South China tigers (Panthera Tigris Amoyensis). In the next 12 years, this species moved closer to becoming extinct.

After many years, in 1986, it dawned on the Chinese government that there were only 40 purebred South Chinese tigers in 14 zoos in China. 

With the help of the government, the Chinese non-governmental organisation Save the China Tiger and the South Africa Trust of South Africa made a strange agreement in Beijing in 2002. Many of those tigers were taken to South Africa as part of the deal. The cubs born there were given hunting training in a reserve in South Africa's Orange Free State province. 

The trained tigers were rehabilitated in eight sanctuaries in southern China. What these tigers do in the Laohu Valley in South Africa is something to watch out for.

This example is drawn because in 1974 there was also a famine situation in Bangladesh. Despite this situation, Bangabandhu's government did not go after the forest land.

Bangabandhu took Mountfort's arguments seriously. He observed that although the Dhaka Zoo built during the Jukto Front period inside the boundaries of the High Court was shifted to the larger Mirpur, it was completely unorganised and not safe for the public. Until then, the tigers of the Sundarbans did not exist in any zoo in the world. Bangabandhu ordered the forest department to collect tigers for the Dhaka zoo.

Famous hunter Pachabdi Gazi captured two tiger cubs from Hongraj area of the Sundarbans in 1974. The then Divisional Forest Officer of Sundarbans, Alim Saheb, gifted the cubs to Bangabandhu, which he immediately donated to the Dhaka Zoo. One of the cubs died within a few days, while the other tiger survived until 1989 and remained on display at the Dhaka Zoo as the sole representative of the Sundarbans tiger.

The Bangladesh Wildlife Conservation Act is perhaps the greatest contribution to Bangladesh's wildlife during Bangabandhu's short reign. Such a law was unimaginable for Bangladesh, at that time, other than in India.

The laws of the land

During British rule of this land, the Elephant Preservation Act 1879 (to stop the use of elephants as draughts), the Birds and Wildlife Preservation Act 1912 and the Bengal Rhinoceros Preservation Act 1932 existed in the books, but were not enforced. Despite some reforms in the Indian Forest Act 1927, hunting, land reclamation for agricultural land expansion, especially jute cultivation, caused massive loss of wildlife.

In this context, the Bangabandhu government passed the Bangladesh WildLife (Preservation) Order under the President's Order 23. It was amended in 1974 as the Bangladesh WildLife (Preservation) (Amendment) Act, 1974. The Act was amended in 2012 to make it more timely.

As a result of this act, the killing of all kinds of wild animals, especially tigers, was legally stopped permanently.

It begs the question, when did Bangabandhu find time to think about wildlife? 

He became the undisputed leader of Bengal at a time when East Bengal was going through a severe leadership crisis. Shere Bangla AK Fazlul Haque (27 April 1962), Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy (5 December 1963), Khawaja Nazimuddin (22 October 1964) died one by one, leaving no leader in East Bengal whose image was known globally. 

Pulling the Awami League from the ruins of the Jukto Front and putting it in front of the military regime was one of the boldest decisions and breakthroughs of his time. As a result, jail-oppression, lawsuit-attack became a regular part of his life. 

Perhaps it was the respite while in jail that helped him think about his people and the country's wealth. His 'unfinished autobiography' continues to bear witness to that.

Khasru Chowdhury is a writer and Sundarbans expert.