DHAKA, Apr 4, 2022 (BSS)– According to the latest census, there are 114 tigers in Sundarbans mangrove forest, said Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Shahab Uddin.

The minister made this claim responding to a query from treasury bench lawmaker Didarul Alam of Chattogram-4 in the Jatiya Sangsad here today. 

“The tiger census conducted camera trapping in 2015 found a total of 106 tigers. The number of tigers stands at 114 as per the latest census completed in 2018,” said the minister. 

Apart from this,  there are 1,000,00-150,000 deer,  165-200 crocodiles and 40,000-50,000 monkeys in the mangrove forest. 

At present, country’s total forest area is around 14.10 percent. Trees cover 22.37 percent of the total forest area, he said while responding to another query from treasury bench lawmaker Benjir Ahmed of Dhaka-20.  

Under the social aforestation, the forest minister said some 1,02,339.28 hectares wood lot and block garden have been created and 76,752.366 kilometers(km) steep garden have also been created during the fiscal year between 1980-81 and 2020-21.