A few days back, over breakfast at the Galingkha restaurant, my friend from Bangladesh, Dr. Ronald Halder - dentalist, ornithologist, photographer and author, introduced me to Sirajul Hossain, a naturalist and a photographer, also from Bangladesh. Two of them, accompanied by another birder/photographer friend, Md. Zamiruddin Faisal, are currently in Bhutan on a 10-days bird watching/photography tour of Bhutan.
It was inevitable that given our shared interest in photography and birding, we mostly talked of the photographic and birding opportunities offered by Bhutan. One other matter we talked about was of the tigers living and breeding in the high Himalayas of Bhutan and of those that lived and roamed the mangroves of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. That is when I mentioned about the shameless claims made by the BBC team who recently made a documentary on the tigers of Bhutan. What Sirajul told me next left me in total shock and disbelief!
It seems that the BBC did something even worst in Bangladesh than what they did in Bhutan. In Bangladesh, they actually caused the death of few tigers - in the process of their film making and in their attempt to be dramatic and theatrical.
Following the incidences of the death of two tigers at the hands of the BBC filming crew, Sirajul published two articles titled; “The Death of Two Tigers: Immature science in immature hands” and “On Death and Survival of Tigers”. Both the articles were published in Bangladesh’s largest circulating English daily: The Daily Star. The first article appeared on 22nd February, 2008 and the second one appeared on 7th June, 2008.
It seems that the BBC did something even worst in Bangladesh than what they did in Bhutan. In Bangladesh, they actually caused the death of few tigers - in the process of their film making and in their attempt to be dramatic and theatrical.
Following the incidences of the death of two tigers at the hands of the BBC filming crew, Sirajul published two articles titled; “The Death of Two Tigers: Immature science in immature hands” and “On Death and Survival of Tigers”. Both the articles were published in Bangladesh’s largest circulating English daily: The Daily Star. The first article appeared on 22nd February, 2008 and the second one appeared on 7th June, 2008.
The two articles clearly show that in their quest to make a dramatic film, the BBC couldn’t care less about the consequences of their actions to their subjects. One of the articles point to the fact that there is nothing professional about the way the BBC does things. In fact, the title of one of the articles, “The Death of Two Tigers: Immature science in immature hands” is revealing.
Since I leave for the East tomorrow, I do not have the time. But when I return, I hope to post a detailed commentary on the two articles published by the naturalist Sirajul Hossain. In the meantime, I hope this will alert the Royal government and its agencies to be wary of any future proposals they receive from the BBC.
Thanks Yeshey; certainly informative. It appears that media stalwarts like the BBC can get away with blue murder outside their own territory. I suppose the work they do is not so much in the interest of saving tigers, but to promote themselves. Looking forward to your commentary which am sure will be more interesting than the articles! Wish you a safe and fruitful trip to the East. Sonam
ReplyDeletethose charges leveled at bbc are totally untrue...
ReplyDeleteread the two articles you mentioned and you'll see that bbc merely filmed the tranquilizing of one tiger [not 'a few'] by a team of researchers...
and the writer of the articles explains in great detail that it was the drug used that killed the two tigers, never accused bbc of any complicity whatsoever...