A Siberian tiger. File picture
Image by: SHENG LI / REUTERS
Image by: SHENG LI / REUTERS
Police in India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh have launched a search for poachers who broke into a zoo and hacked a tigress to death.
The poachers entered the cage of the 6-year-old tigress at the zoo in state capital Itanagar on Monday night and hacked it into pieces, the IANS news agency reported. The security guards had gone for dinner.News channels reported on Wednesday that the tigress was either shot at a close range or tranquilized to incapacitate it before it was cut into pieces.
India, which has the world's largest number of tigers in the wild - 1,706 according to a count in 2010 - has seen 48 tiger deaths in the first six months of 2012.
A rising demand for tiger parts in China and Southeast Asia, and conflict with villagers who live in the vicinity of nature reserves, are the main reasons for the main threats to tiger.
India's Supreme Court recently banned tourism from tiger parks.Author: Siddhartha Kumar