The Rajshahi Divisional Wildlife Conservation Office reports that the gharial is currently a critically endangered species. Bangladesh's first gharial breeding center has been launched in Rajshahi. On Tuesday (April 15th), the center was inaugurated on Shahid Zia Shishu Park Road in the city by Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Forest Conservator of the Wildlife Conservation Department. At this time, he released an adult male and female gharial brought from Gazipur Safari Park into the breeding center.
Also present were Gobinda Roy, Deputy Chief Forest Conservator and Project Director; Chhanaullah Patwari, Forest Conservator of Wildlife and Nature Conservation, Dhaka Region; Muhammad Subedar Islam, Forest Conservator of Bogura Social Forest Region; Rafiquzzaman Shah, Rajshahi Divisional Forest Officer; and Professor Kamrul Hasan of the Department of Zoology, Jahangirnagar University.
The Rajshahi Divisional Wildlife Conservation Office states that the gharial is currently a critically endangered animal. Once found in the Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, and Brahmaputra rivers of Bangladesh, the gharial is now on the verge of extinction due to river pollution, reduced navigability of rivers, overfishing, illegal hunting, trafficking, egg destruction, disruption of breeding, and food scarcity. However, efforts are being made to increase the gharial population again through breeding.
