A group of poachers broke into a zoo in Itanagar, India and killed a tiger on Monday night.

The BBC reports that the poachers hacked the tiger unto several pieces in order to smuggle the animal out of the zoo. They were caught by security guards, however, and were unable to escape with their kill.

UPI reports that a post-mortem of the animal showed that the poachers used a tranquilizer on the six-year-old tiger before entering the cage. They then cut the animal into six pieces. The poachers fled the scene when they were confronted by security guards. No arrests were made.

The state’s chief conservator of forest, BS Sajwan, said:

“The tigress had bullet injuries and most of its body parts were intact. But we are taking action against those who should have been around to prevent the incident.”

Poaching has caused tiger populations to drop drastically in India. At the start of the 20th century, there were close to 100,000 tigers roaming India. Last year, that number had fallen to 1,700.

According to the BBC, poaching is a common problem in India but it doesn’t typically happen at zoos. There are, however, past examples of poachers killing zoo animals. In 2006, three tigers were poisoned by poachers.

Poachers Break Into Zoo, Kill Tiger is a post from: The Inquisitr