Royal Bengal Tiger beaten to death

Villagers beat a Bengal Tiger dead at Koira upazila of Khulna on Friday. According to Shahidul Huq, station officer of Kashiabad Forest Office of Sundarbans Forest Division's west wing, the tigress strayed into locality around 7:30pm on September 9 and stayed near a hatchery. Around 8:30am the next morning more than 100 villagers, armed with sticks, blockaded the hatchery and beat the tigress to death. Veterinary surgeon Arun Kanti Mandol of Khulna in the autopsy report said the tigress was sick. The carcass was buried in the compound of Hadda Forest Camp. A two-member committee was formed to probe the incident, said Divisional Forest Officer Md Ziauddin, adding that the committee is expected to submit its report by Thursday. According to experts, human-tiger encounters have increased in recent years as tiger habitat has diminished due to natural disasters like Sidr and Aila, large-scale deforestation, human infringement of tiger territory and poaching.