West Bengal’s Sundarbans mangrove wilderness delivers yet another heartbreak: 45-year-old Rampad Burman from Gosaba’s Kalidaspur village perished in a tiger’s jaws while crabbing legally on Tuesday. This follows closely on the heels of a February 8 fatality, amplifying fears in the tiger-infested delta.
Burman’s permitted foray turned nightmarish as a Bengal tiger ambushed him in the impenetrable forest. Quick-thinking peers fended it off, boating the mauled man to village aid before hospital transfer—efforts in vain against his wounds.
Sundarbans police initiated probes, with autopsy pending. Forest chief Nisha Goswami clarified, ‘Permits were in order; our sensitization drives hammer home risks and remedies like rear-facing masks and megaphones.’
With a wife and two dependents left destitute, Burman’s death spotlights livelihood hazards. The region’s 4,000 sq km harbor elusive tigers whose territory shrinks against human encroachment for crabs, fish, and firewood.
The pattern is stark: Patharpratima’s recent kill saw a husband vanish before his wife, body surfacing next day. As conservation swells tiger ranks, fringe communities bear the brunt—over 100 assaults yearly.
Calls intensify for robust barriers, insurance schemes, and vocational shifts to aquaculture or handicrafts. The Sundarbans’ dual mantle of ecological jewel and death trap necessitates harmonious strategies to safeguard both species.