Police killed six suspected tiger poachers in the Sunderbans nature area near Bangladesh on Sunday. They were found in the world's largest mangrove forest where the critically endangered Royal Bengal tigers are most commonly found, according to the Associated Press.
Officials seized the skins of three tigers after the gunfight that left six alleged poachers dead. They also found a number of firearms on the suspects, according to the AP.
Babibur Rahman, the police superintendent in the district where this shooting took place, said that police arrested seven men and recovered three tiger skins before returning to collect the rest. It was then that the alleged poachers opened fire. Officers returned fire and the six poachers were shot and killed in the process, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Five of the officers involved were injured in the gunfight, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A recent survey found that a little over 100 Royal Bengal Tigers have been recorded living in these forests. The number is much smaller than it was 10 years prior when 440 animals were recorded living in the forests, according to the BBC. Widespread poaching is the likely cause of this decline.
Fewer than 2,300 Bengal tigers are left in the world, most of them living in Bangladesh. Because of this, Bangladesh has increased its efforts in stopping poachers from killing this endangered species, according to the BBC.
