Six Tiger Poachers Poached By Authorities
In a bit of a turnaround, at least six poachers were reportedly tracked and killed this weekend by authorities in Bangladesh.
The gunfire began after Bangladeshi law enforcement officers arrested several poachers and forced them to reveal their hideout, hidden deep inside the Sundarbans, home of the world’s largest mangrove forest.
The remaining poachers did not surrender quietly, a deputy inspector tells Xinhua News:
In the afternoon he said a team of law enforcers took the arrestees to a Sundarbans area to recover more tiger hides and firearms.
Sensing the lawenforcers’ presence, other poachers opened fire on police, forcing them to retaliate that triggered the gunfight, he said.
He said “arrested poachers were caught in the line of fire and died on the spot but their cohorts managed to flee.”
Five policemen were reportedly injured in the shootout. And at least three freshly shorn tiger pelts were found at the scene—a somewhat devastating blow to the forest’s tiger population which currently stands at about 100.
It’s not yet clear what the authorities’ weekend haul means for the overall poaching population, which has also thinned somewhat in recent years thanks to environmental regulations, armed officers, and some very bad press.
