The death toll of wildlife in the Sundarbans has touched a hundred due to Cyclone Remal.  The forest department recovered 96 deer and 4 wild boar carcasses from the forest till Thursday afternoon.  The dead animals were recovered from forest Katka, Kachikhali, Karamjal, Bird Char, Egg Char, Sheller Char and Coconut Bariya areas.  Besides, 18 deer and one python snake were rescued in a sick condition.  After first treatment they were released in the forest.
 
The forest department says that various infrastructures of the forest department have been damaged in the cyclone, the financial value of which is 6 crore 27 lakh taka.  However, the loss is not quantifiable in monetary terms.  
 
One of which is that hundreds of forest ponds have been flooded and salt water has entered.  Wildlife and foresters are spending their days in hardship.  11 km round garden has been damaged.  But more time is needed to calculate the true picture of damage to forest plants and animals in storms.
 
The forest department and Sundarbans officials say that the Sundarbans are facing an 'unusual' situation due to Cyclone Remal.  A part of the forest is flooded with water twice during low tide and twice in 24 hours during normal time.  But this time there was no subsidence in the forest in the next 36 hours before the first cyclone hit.  
 
That means the entire forest was under water for a long time.  And the height of the water at high tide was 5/6 feet above normal, in some areas even higher.  Forest officials were apprehensive of huge loss of wildlife from Tuesday due to such high tide for a long time.
 
After the cyclone ended, the fears came true as the water receded on Wednesday morning.  Locals reported dead bodies of deer lying on the beaches of Cuttack, Kachikhali, Dubla, Hiranpoint.  Till Thursday afternoon, the forest department recovered 96 dead deer and four wild boars.  But the forest department is not able to tell the extent of the damage to the animals in the huge Sundarbans.
 
Mihir Kumar Do, forest conservator of Khulna region, said that the Sundarbans are facing unusual situation, which has never happened before.  It needs more time to find out the exact information.
 
END/V7N/SDK/DK/