Thursday October 30, 2003 at 5:18 PM
Tigers Murdered in Baghdad and Bangladesh
Appearing in The Environment
On the evening of Thursday, September 18th a group of U.S. soldiers held an impromptu party at the war-ravaged Baghdad zoo. According to Adil Salman Mousa, the zoo’s night watchman, the soldiers possessed the rather combustible combination of military vehicles, casual attire, and beer.
At some point in the festivities one of the soldiers entered the enclosure of the zoo’s 14-year old Bengal tiger in a misguided effort to feed the endangered animal. Although the animal had been born at the zoo, it was not quiet as domesticated as the drunken solider might have wished and in what would be no surprise to even Siegfried and Roy, the animal attacked the soldier.
In the words of Lt. George Krivo, “the tiger engaged the soldier’s arm”. In response, another of the soldiers engaged his weapon and the unfortunate tiger engaged his fate. The military is investigating.
In an unrelated incident, earlier that week tiger advocates had celebrated an unlikely victory when five Bangladesh zoo workers were sentenced to 14 years hard labor for the poisoning death of four Bengal Tigers including a three-month-old cub and a pregnant tigress.
According to reports, the employees of the state-run Dhaka National Zoo killed the animals in order to stop a plan to move 32 jobs out of the zoo. They conspirators had also hoped to sell the dead animal’s skins.
Reading from his verdict, Judge Habibur Rahman said, “When the whole world is trying to protect wildlife and the environment, the protectors of the zoo resorted to a role of killers.”
Although the convicts met the decision with tears, according to reports their main complaint was the acquittal of nine other conspirators.
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Panthera tigris tigris, the Bengal tiger, is one of the most endangered and beloved animals in the world. Native to the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans in eastern India and Bangladesh, there are approximately 3000 to 4000 Bengal tigers remaining in the wild. For more information visit Tigers in Crisis and Five Tigers.
