Eighteen of the 130 nestling baby crocodiles at Karamjal Crocodile Breeding Centre, the first of its kind in the country, in Khulna's Dakop upazila went missing last Sunday. Photo: Julfikar Ali Manik
Eighteen baby crocodiles went missing on Sunday from Karamjal Crocodile Breeding Centre, which had been launched in 2000 in efforts to save the Sunderbans' declining crocodile population, in Dakop upazila of Khulna district.
The crocodiles, under the age of one year, were stolen from the centre with the advantage of the negligence of persons concerned, Divisional Forest Officer of east wing of Sundarban Forest Division Mihir Kumar suspected.
Deputy Ranger Abdur Rob of the east wing of Sundarban Forest Division, who is in charge of the breeding centre, said, after being aware of the crocodiles missing, the staff of the centre carried out a hectic search but to no avail.
The search for the baby crocodiles, however, was being continued, the DFO said.
Abdur Rob filed a general diary Monday night in this connection with Dakop Police Station.
In the GD, Abdur Rob stated that around 3:30pm on Sunday while changing water of the cages, where crocodiles are bred, he found 18 of those in a cage missing.
After its emergence in 2000, the centre had bred a total of 128 baby crocodiles, including the 18 missing ones, in eight cages, the DFO said.
Seven staff including the Deputy Ranger of Forest Department were given charge to take care of the centre.
Assistant Conservator of Forests of the east wing Golam Quddus Bhuiyan has been asked to conduct a probe into the matter and submit a report within seven days, the DFO told reporters.
If anyone among the staffs of the centre is found guilty of negligence, the person would not be spared and departmental action would be taken against him, said the DFO.
This is the first ever crocodile breeding centre set up in Bangladesh with an initiative to save crocodiles from extinction and gradually Karamjal has become a tourist attraction due to its crocodile breeding centre.
Out of 26 species of crocodiles, only three varieties grace our waterways. Of the three, the variety of fresh water or sweet water crocodiles has become extinct. The remaining two varieties--one is known as Gharial and another as Marsh Crocodile or Indian Mugger--are existing. The Sundarbans has only salt-water crocodiles, which are even on the verge of extinction.
Abdur Rob, who studied about crocodiles in Australia, told a visiting Daily Star correspondent earlier this year that according to a census in 1985, Bangladesh had 150 to 200 salt-water crocodiles in the Sundarbans. Now the number has gone down to below one hundred though the waterways of the forest can house seven thousand crocodiles.
Karamjal Crocodile Breeding Centre is not operating on a commercial basis and yet to start releasing salt-water crocodiles into their natural habitat.
"We will release the baby crocodiles in their natural habitat when they grow at least two metres in length and hopefully by one or two years, we will be releasing them," Rob said.
Romeo and Juliet, the most famous two male and female adult crocodiles at Karamjal named by Rob, bred around 128 baby crocodiles by now.
When Rob calls Romeo and Juliet, they rush to him from wherever they are. Romeo and Juliet are the only adult salt-water male and female crocodiles at Karamjal.
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