Tiger Poisoners Sentenced To 14 Years Jail Time

by Charlotte LoBuono

In what has been termed a revolutionary verdict, a Bangladeshi court has sentenced five former employees of the Dhaka Zoo to 14 years of "rigorous imprisonment" and a fine of approximately $350 each for poisoning four Royal Bengal tigers to death.

The court acquitted nine others of all charges in the case, a decision that caused those convicted to complain they were accomplices to the crime.

The sentence, handed down on September 11, is the first such verdict on animal killing in Bangladesh.

The convicted men, animal caretakers Azizul Haque, Yaad Ali, Sadek Ali, Sohrab Hossain, and butcher Osman Gani, protested that Alek Chand, who was exonerated of any wrongdoing, was actually the mastermind of the whole crime.

Chand was acquitted because the Metropolitan Magistrate mistakenly recorded his name as Alex Mia in the confessional statement dated November 1996.

Chand had confessed earlier that three zoo employees secretly decided to poison the big cats to dissuade authorities from transferring 32 colleagues at the zoo. Other zoo employees were involved in the plan as well.

Poisoned meat was distributed to the tigers on November 8, 1996, at approximately 4 pm. A 20-year-old male tiger named Raju died the next day, followed two days later by seven-year-old and 14-year-old tigresses.

One of the tigress’ cubs died of suffocation two days after that, following the ingestion of milk from its ill-fated mother.

Then zoo curator, Dr. Asfar Ali, filed charges in November 1996. On January 21, 1998, the Detective Branch arrested 20 guards and zoo employees, charging 14 people with the crime.

The court indicted the men on July 26, 1998, and their trial began on January 26, 2000.

The 230-acre Dhaka Zoological Gardens, which is also known as the Murpir Zoo, is one of Dhaka’s few recreational attractions. It currently houses 14 Royal Bengal tigers.

The Royal Bengal Tiger is Bangladesh’s national animal.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.