Bengal tiger poachers killed in Bangladesh

A group of six tiger poachers have been shot dead by Bangladeshi authorities at a national park in the country’s south.

The 45-minute firefight erupted as police launched a crackdown in Sundarbans National Park, which spans the Asian nation’s border with India, according to S M Moniruzzaman, deputy inspector general of Police in Khulna Range.

While six of the poachers were killed, police say five of its own members were injured in the shootout.

He said police found the skins of three adult Bengal tigers, measuring 3.5 metres, and seized four rifles and a pistol.

Sundarbans is about 180 kilometers (112 miles) southwest of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.

“It (access) should be stopped for the sake of tigers”, said Jahidul Kabir, who is charged with looking after the UNESCO World-Heritage listed part of the forest. Forest officials said they were considering the ban in the 10,000-square-kilometre forest which straddles Bangladesh and India in a bid to halt the poaching.

There are fewer than 2,500 Royal Bengal Tigers left in the world and only 106 on Bangladesh.

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.