Forest department officials for the first-time attached a satellite tag on a saltwater crocodile and released it in the Bhadra river near Bhadra Patrol Post of the Sundarbans west division yesterday.

The officials are tagging crocodiles with the technical assistance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and GIZ, our Khulna correspondent reports.

Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, divisional forest officer (DFO) of the Sundarbans west division, said, "The main objective of the task is to build capacity of the Bangladesh Forest Department officials in capturing and satellite-tagging the saltwater crocodiles safely.

"A total of five saltwater crocodiles [three from captivity, and two from the wild] from Sundarbans will be tagged to understand their movement, identification of nesting hotspots, ecology, mortality rate, habitat use, and to collect data on possible human-crocodile conflicts,'' he added.

Two Australian crocodile experts Ruchira Somaweera, practice lead for ecology at the Murdoch University, and Paul Beri, principal ranger of Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services, are engaged to assist in conducting the activities and to provide training to the forest officials.