Five hunters have been sentenced to jail by the Thong Pha Phum provincial court in Kanchanaburi, Thailand for killing a tiger and her cub in a national park last year.
The five hunters identified were Supachai Charoensap, Jorhang Panarak, Phukua Yindee, Ratchanon Charoensap, and Cho Aye.
Thong Pha Phum provincial court has ordered the five men to pay THB 750,000 (USD 21,755) each, plus 5 percent interest (THB 37,500 / USD 1,087) in damages to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Conservation.
Although the men claimed they killed the tiger and her cub in a fit of rage after the tiger killed and ate their cows, the court had ruled otherwise.
The hunters were found guilty of colluding to trap and kill the tiger using a cow’s carcass as a lure at the Thong Pha Phum national park on between 8-11 January last year.
Each of the men had been freed on THB 100,000 (USD 2,900) each, a sentence was then handed down to them on 8 February this year, but had not been disclosed to the public.
The men were guilty of the violation of four laws – the National Park Act, the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act, Forest Reserve Act, and the Firearms Act, the Bangkok Post reported.
The court rules that the men set out to kill the tiger, adding that they knew there was a market for tiger skin, which fetched high prices.
