Bangladeshis kill tiger

Reuters 18 Dec 07;

KHULNA, Bangladesh (Reuters) - A female tiger in Bangladesh wandered out of a mangrove forest on Tuesday and was surrounded by villagers and killed, officials said.

Four people were injured in the confrontation with the Royal Bengal tiger, an endangered species. Villagers attacked it with weapons as a woman shouted for help in panic when she spotted the animal stalking near her home, officials said.

"The tigress might have strayed into the village in search of food," said Sundarbans mangrove forest official Amalendra Shaha.

In a separate incident, four people were killed, 25 others were injured and at least 25 bamboo-made houses were damaged when a herd of elephants strayed into a village near a forest the Cox's Bazar district, 400 km (250 miles) southeast of Dhaka.

With these new victims, at least nine people have been killed by wild elephants in southeastern forest regions over the last month, forest officials said.

The Sundarbans, southwest of Dhaka, and other forests were hard hit by Cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bangladesh coast on November 15 with winds of 250 kph (155 mph) and killed about 3,500 people and made millions homeless.

The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal tiger.

At least 60 percent of the 6,000 sq km (2,320 sq mile) mangrove swamps that lies within Bangladesh, home for more than 400 Royal Bengal tigers, was devastated by the cyclone.

The Sundarbans stretch for a further 4,000 sq km (1,545 sq miles) into India's eastern state of West Bengal.

(Reporting by Enamul Haque and Mohammad Nurul Islam in Cox's Bazar; Writing by Nizam Ahmed)

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