Shahriar Caesar Rahman, a young adventurous conservation biologist has taken up the much needed but rare mission of conserving snakes and tortoises in Bangladesh…writes Farhat Afzal
A little boy, overwhelmed by his love for animals, decides he wants a pet cow. He gets friendly with the cow and lures it to follow him up to the rooftop. He goes through all that trouble just so he could keep the cow as a pet.
Such was the childhood of wildlife enthusiast and conservation biologist Shahriar Caesar Rahman. He is the principal researcher and founder of the Bangladesh Python Project, which deals with promoting research and conservation of reptiles in Bangladesh by using the Burmese Python as the flagship species. After securing funding through small grants and private donation, the project began its journey in 2011. Over the years, he had gained extensive experience in conserving reptiles and amphibians of Bangladesh. Currently, he and his team are working with conservation and ecology of tortoises and Burmese Python, and conservation assessment of Bangladeshi snake fauna.
As is obvious from his boyhood antics, he had always been interested in animals from a young age. His love for animals grew perhaps because of his upbringing away from the lackluster that Dhaka city could provide. Raised in Moulvibazar and Gopalganj, the 29-year-old always knew he wanted to work with animals. However, he did not believe he could make a profession out of it until much later in life.
In 2004, he moved to New York and it was there that he realised how much work could be done with regard to animals and their conservation. After graduating high school, he studied Biology for two years at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. For some time, he wanted to be a veterinarian but realised that along with animals, his passion also lied in seeking adventure and in travelling. He began volunteering at various animal shelters. At age 20, while volunteering at a shelter run by nonprofit WildMetro in New York City, he had the opportunity to experience the life of a conservationist. Living in tents, conducting memo surveys and camera trapping fascinated him– and he realised that he wanted a career in conservation.
Rahman moved back to Dhaka in 2011 and enrolled in the undergraduate programme in Environmental Science at International University Bangladesh. He graduated in 2015, further solidifying his goal of pursuing a career in natural sciences.
When asked why he works with conservation of snakes, he replied ‘Why not snakes? Every single creature, and that includes the smallest, most insignificant organism, was created for a specific purpose.’ He says that many species are interdependent on one another. If one species is completely obliterated or becomes extinct, the ecosystem will be disturbed. ‘Snakes are an integral part of nature’s balance. If they are removed, the whole biological life cycle will be thrown off balance,’ says Rahman.
On the importance of conserving snakes, Rahman says that some of it is so complex that we as humans can hardly perceive it. ‘Rat snakes eat rats and anyone who works in cultivation can tell you how much damage rats can do to crops. So farmers tend to be grateful for the existence of such rat snakes. Snake anti-venom is made from snakes. Then there are snakes that eat other snakes as well. So there are plenty of benefits of snakes,’ adds Rahman.
Regarding human deaths from snake bite, Rahman says the situation is not what people would assume. ‘In Lawachara, we have recorded 40 types of snake species. Of them, six are poisonous – common cobra, king cobra, pit viper, bandit krait, black krait and red-necked keelback. And yet, we have had no record of human deaths from snake bite in the past five years in Lawachara,’ Rahman replies.
In 2012, Rahman’s tortoise-tracking puppy was killed by a king cobra. When asked if that incident changed his perception of snakes or if it made him more cautious, he replied that ‘There are risks involved even in driving a car. Accidents happen if you are not maintaining the rules while driving. Same thing applies to working with snakes. The puppy got too close and the snake was just defending itself.’ He mentions that such workplace hazards can be avoided if rules are properly followed.
Rahman thinks that the biggest challenge regarding conservation work lies in the bureaucratic hurdles. ‘You need to go through a lot of hassle just to get a small permit,’ he says. However there are plenty of upsides as well, the support of locals being the biggest one of all. ‘At first, there is some hesitation on their part. But we try to close the gap by building a relationship with them. We try gaining trust of locals by showing we are not going to cause any harm to their region. Conservation work is quite impossible without the support of locals,’ Rahman adds.
Bangladesh Python Project launched its first ever radio telemetry study of Burmese Python in Lawachara National Park in July of 2013. A small transmitter is inserted inside the snake’s body through a minor surgery. It gives out signals at certain frequencies over a range of one kilometre. From this, Rahman and his team try to determine their walking range, eating habits and various other activities.
Along with radio tracking the Burmese Python, Rahman and his team are also involved with studying and conserving tortoises. In order to carry out tracking via radio telemetry, a small transmitter is attached to the body of the tortoise using glue. They aim to conserve the rare species of tortoises and reintroduce them to their habitats through captive breeding, i.e. the process of breeding animals in controlled environments. Additionally, since July of 2014, Rahman has been acting as the founder and manager of the Mro Tortoise Guardian Program in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which according to him, harbours many globally threatened species. The wildlife in the region is in threat of becoming extinct due to deforestation and continuous hunting by the local indigenous people. The goal of the programme is to convert the local Mro tribal huntsmen into ‘Tortoise Guardians’. The project aims to train the Tortoise Guardians as ‘para-biologist’ who collect basic ecological data and are in charge of monitoring the population of turtles, tortoise and other endangered wildlife.
Rahman believes that in order to ensure a productive future for the wildlife in Bangladesh, nature must be preserved. Whether it is wetlands, grassy areas or forests, each species thrive in their own habitat. So it is important to leave their habitats untouched. ‘Nature can exist without people in it, but how can we survive without nature?’ he asks.