Nijhum Dwip: surrounded by sea and river estuaries, a keora forest and a sanctuary for thousands of deer. Nijhum Dwip is a small island in Hatiya upazila of Noakhali, a place of great natural beauty. Its old name was Char Osman. The naturally grown mangrove forest is one of Bangladesh's most attractive tourist spots.

According to various sources, the Bangladesh Forest Department began work here in the 1970s. In 1978 it released four pairs of deer on a trial basis, and their numbers later grew to 30,000. In 2001 the government declared Nijhum Dwip a national park and deer sanctuary.

Several species of animals live here. Mammals include the clawless otter and the fishing cat. Birds include the night heron, Indian pond heron, cattle egret, little cormorant, grey heron, snipe, whistling duck, black duck, watercock, spotted redshank and spotted greenshank. The park is one of the main haunts of the Indian skimmer. Reptiles include the Bengal monitor and various species of sea turtle.

The naturally beautiful Nijhum Dwip is a treasure of Bangladesh, and its main attraction is its herds of deer, of which there are about 40,000. To see them you must move silently, as the deer flee at any noise.

Five species of deer have been recorded in Bangladesh. Two of them, the hog deer and swamp deer, have become extinct. Of the other three, the barking deer and sambar deer are nearly gone and are only rarely found in the deep forests of Sylhet and in Kaptai, the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Bandarban. The spotted deer, or chitra horin, is still doing better in this country than the other deer.

According to the Forest Department, there are 50,000-80,000 spotted deer in the Sundarbans alone. It is the most beautiful of Bangladesh's deer species and is found in the forests of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. It prefers densely wooded places and moves in herds. On Nijhum Dwip, the number of spotted deer per acre is three times that of the Sundarbans; with no carnivores such as tigers, they are breeding fast.

The spotted deer has white spots on reddish-brown fur, hence its English name. Its belly, throat, inner ribs, hindquarters, tail and ears are white. An adult weighs about 85 kg, and mature spotted deer have three-pronged antlers.

The spotted deer is the most beautiful and harmless of Bangladesh's land mammals. It was once found in most of the country's deep forests, but its last refuges are now the Sundarbans and a few other forests. Although deer have great potential in this country, little research has been done on them. With their habitat being destroyed day by day, their survival is now difficult, and tourists who come from home and abroad to see deer have lost interest. Yet with planned action, a great deal of foreign currency could be earned through tourism.

The main reason for the decline in spotted deer is deforestation. Trees are cut and settlements built, and the deer lose their habitat. Poachers also hunt deer at night and smuggle them, and deer are often killed by jackals and dogs.

No ponds have been dug here for fresh water. With no embankment around the island, salt water enters the forest, causing shortages of drinking water and food for the deer. In the monsoon, mosquitoes multiply in the forest, and the damp conditions help diseases, including foot disease, spread easily. Many deer die of disease every year, yet no one seems concerned. To survive, the deer gradually try to cross the river to nearby chars, and some die this way. To save their lives, deer often come into villages and are caught by people.

There is also a food crisis. Because of the shortage of fresh water, food and shelter, deer are leaving Nijhum Dwip for neighbouring islands. As trees and deer decline on the island, tourist numbers are falling too.

Dogs are now blamed as the deer's main enemy. Four or five dogs chase a deer for a long time, then catch and eat it. Because the trees are dense, male deer running fast get their antlers caught in trees, and that is when the dogs catch them, so dogs catch more males. But among the deer skeletons found in the forest, female skulls outnumber male ones, because people take the male deer's antlers to sell to tourists.

Researchers say that examining the skulls shows the death rate among fawns is also high. Observation of bones and skulls has revealed evidence of jackals catching and eating fawns.

Some steps to develop Nijhum Dwip could save the spotted deer. There is strong demand for spotted deer abroad. Although found only in the forests of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, they have lately been exported to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, America and many other countries. Bangladesh, too, could earn foreign currency by exporting spotted deer.

With a little effort, ecotourism know-how could be used to build an exceptional tourist centre here, and this is where the dream of deer farming could begin. Deer farming started long ago in developed countries, but despite the popularity of our spotted deer, we have not begun to think about it. If this situation continues, we will fail to protect one of our most promising species.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.