But is animal cruelty something we only condemn during this particular time of year? What are the subtle and not-so-subtle acts of cruelty we exhibit as we interact with/rear/raise/consume livestock/pets/wildlife?
Prof Gawsia Wahidunnessa Chowdhury is one of two Bangladeshis who were recently named among the top 100 Asian scientists. In an interview with Abida Rahman Chowdhury of The Daily Star, she talks about her current projects, the scope of Bangladesh's policies and why they do not work, and how to encourage more women to take up STEM.
The more roads you build, the more cars there will be to fill them up. I am no expert, but the numbers don’t lie.
Cyclone Mocha was just the first of the season, and Bangladesh will face more in the days to come. We need to focus on a more holistic approach to disaster management, especially the evacuation process and recovery aspect, and not just rely on warnings and people’s willingness to move to shelters.
Do we all feel this heat similarly? The answer is no. It is no secret that if you are among the well-off in this not-so-well-off nation, you are better equipped to deal with this heatwave. There is a deep running inequality as to how the heat affects people.
Just one bystander can cause enough distraction to move the focus from the real situation on hand—which is to stabilise the emergency situation and save lives. So, who is responsible?
Bangladesh supports nearly 1.7 percent of the world's wildlife. How is that wildlife doing? Why does the chirping of birds no longer wake us? When was the last time a frog just showed up in our bathrooms?
As a traveller or visitor, if you have been to Bangladesh, you are no stranger to the shocking green everywhere, the chaos of Dhaka city, the absolute absence of rules anywhere, and if you have a keen eye then the straightforward, smooth and sometimes borderline funny naming of our businesses will surely intrigue you.
When we get there at the break of dawn, Cox’s Bazar is asleep and unexpectedly cold. Pinching at our cheek, making everyone scrunch up their noses. But reassurances drop in from right and left that the coast is rarely ever cold, for a long stretch anyway.
Something strange is happening inside the Bangladesh National Zoo in Dhaka. For the first time in decades, this establishment is devoid of huge throngs of people for an extended period of time as the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in never-before-seen social distancing measures.
With no people in sight, the animals housed at Bangladesh National Zoo in Mirpur-1 seem to be having the time of their lives (however much is possible within the confines of a cage).
By the time she was a young adult, she had started to show the first signs of anxiety, rebellion (cue the dating older men, being too ready, almost too eager to be in bed with them), then not wanting to have sex altogether in adulthood, going from straight As to straight fails—she carried these childhood struggles through adulthood.
Dhaka -- Bangladesh’s densely populated capital -- keeps topping the list of cities with the worst air pollution. Concerns about health hazards due to polluted air have been raised before, but now the warning rings louder as global experts have opined that health
Concerns due to polluted air have been raised before, but now the warning rings louder as global experts say continued exposure to high levels of air pollution in cities can potentially increase the death rate from coronavirus infections.
It is years ago now. The day I took a bus to the southernmost tip of Bangladesh with a group of people wearing khaki-coloured shirts, two-in-one pants, carrying heavy duty binoculars, spotting scopes and talking excitedly about a bird.
“It is named after one of the most prominent wildlife scientists and conservationists in the country, it mimics the sound of crickets and it is tiny,” this is how the team of researchers who determined the presence of a new species of frog describe the amphibian.
‘Raorchestes rezakhani’ was the discovery of two young researchers -- Hasan Al Razi Chayan and Marjan Maria -- from Jagannath University, guided and led closely by Sabir Bin Muzaffar, professor of biology at University of United Arab Emirates.
“Environment, climate crisis, Facebook, Instastories, Snapchat, social media influencers, relationships (lack thereof), and a world obsessed with being connected and updated constantly.”
