Risky roads push wildlife into homes

Twenty wild animals were rescued from different parts of Sreemangal in August after turning up in homes, shops, yards and tea gardens, as shrinking safe movement routes and human settlements close to forest areas increasingly bring wildlife into direct contact with people.

Some have been discovered under beds and staircases, while others have turned up in ceilings and other unexpected places.

Moulvibazar Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Md Abul Kalam told The New Nation that the increasing presence of wildlife in human settlements was largely linked to human encroachment on forest areas.

“Will wildlife enter human settlements? Rather, human settlements have entered the forests. If people build homes very close to the forest, the animals will naturally be seen there. They will be found in kitchens, under staircases and almost everywhere. Isn’t that normal?” he said. Kalam, however, rejected the suggestion that forest habitat and food availability were currently shrinking significantly.

“No, no, no, there is no kind of habitat shrinkage. There is no shortage of food either. There is sufficient food available,” he said.

He also said forest protection had been strengthened, with regular patrols to prevent illegal tree felling.
But he acknowledged that roads and railway lines passing through forest areas were creating problems for wildlife.

“Yes, the railway line and the Dhaka-Sylhet highway are certainly causing problems,” he said.
Roads become deadly barriers

Sreemangal Wildlife Range Officer of the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division Md Kazi Nazmul Haque also linked the increasing movement of wildlife towards settlements to human activity.

He said the situation had also been influenced by the heatwave, while settlements located close to forest areas were creating additional pressure.

“People themselves are creating the problem. They have cleared the forests and vegetation around their homes, which is causing the animals to move into residential areas. We are trying to raise awareness among people,” he said.

Haque said there was sufficient food inside the forest, including fruits such as amloki and lotkon, and that food was also provided regularly.

He said regular patrols were conducted to prevent illegal tree felling and that offenders would face legal action.

At the same time, he acknowledged the risks created by roads and railways crossing forest areas.
“The railway and roads inside the forest certainly cause problems. Birds are affected more. Because of the sounds of vehicle horns and train horns, they cannot stay nearby. There are also various other problems,” he said.

According to Haque, authorities have repeatedly applied to the government to remove roads and railway lines from forest areas and have also organised awareness programmes.

He recalled that during the COVID-19 lockdown, when human movement was drastically reduced, wildlife moved more freely.

“During the lockdown, there was almost no movement of people, and the animals moved around very freely,” he said.

Twenty animals rescued in August
The scale of the encounters is reflected in rescue data.

According to data from the Bangladesh Wildlife Service Foundation, 20 wild animals were rescued from different parts of Sreemangal in August alone.

The rescued animals included nine pythons, two checkered keelbacks, two banded kraits, a tokay gecko, a rat snake, a rare snake, a Brahminy kite, a slow loris and a stump-tailed macaque. One of the nine pythons was found dead.

The locations of the rescues are particularly significant. The animals were found not only near forests but also inside houses, yards, shops and tea gardens.

One 12-foot python was rescued from the ceiling of a house. On September 19, another python measuring nearly 16 feet was found under a bed.

Such incidents illustrate how closely human settlements now overlap with wildlife movement routes.
Lawachara under pressure

The problem extends beyond individual settlements to the wider forest landscape.

Lawachara National Park, declared a national park in 1996, covers about 1,250 hectares and supports hundreds of species, including 246 bird species, 22 amphibian species, 20 mammal species and 59 reptile species, according to forest officials.

The park is also an important habitat for the critically endangered western hoolock gibbon. A recent survey recorded around 50 hoolock gibbons there.

But Lawachara does not exist as an isolated block of forest. Tea gardens, settlements, roads and other human activities have reduced connections between the park and neighbouring forest areas, restricting wildlife movement and the exchange of populations between habitats.

In September, a capped langur was injured in a road accident and later died, highlighting the danger faced by wildlife attempting to cross busy transport routes.

A 2026 survey also failed to find the rare amphibian Chikila fulleri in Lawachara. Researchers cautioned that the monsoon-season survey could not establish whether the species had disappeared or become extinct, and another search is planned during winter.