Bangladesh police kill 6 alleged tiger poachers in gunfight

The area in which the clash happened is home to the rare Bengal tiger.

The poachers were arrested from different parts of Koyra area of the forest early in the morning while they caught in the line of fire and died instantly during the shootouts in the afternoon at Mandarbari of the Sundarbans, he said.

Bangladesh police on Sunday shot dead six alleged tiger poachers in the world’s largest mangrove forest as it launched a crackdown following a drastic fall in the number of big cats. “We fired back. Six poachers were killed in the gunfight”, local police chief Harendranath Sarker told AFP.

The BBC reports officers saying they found three fresh tiger pelts at the scene.

Some 440 tigers were recorded in the Sundarbans forest in a 2004 census based on collecting tigers’ paw prints, but a year-long survey that ended in April 2015 using video cameras estimated the current tiger population at between 83 and 130, averaging about 106.

Bangladesh has stepped up efforts against poachers since the news of the tiger population’s decline.

The firefight occurred at a hideout located on the Bangladeshi side of the world’s largest mangrove forest, which is 10,000 square miles and stretches into India.

Experts say the dramatic slump is down to more accurate surveying methods, but also to rampant poaching. There are fewer than 2,500 Bengal tigers left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.