Four men wanted for killing two Bengal tigers found skinned, their meat cooking on a grill, in a jungle camp near the Myanmar border surrendered to police on Thursday.
They said the tigers had preyed regularly on their cattle, so they used a dead cow the big cats had killed as bait and shot them, according to police.
Police picked up the four suspects at a road checkpoint in Thong Pha Phum district around noon. They were taken to Thong Pha Phum police station for further interrogation.
During questioning, the four men told police that they raised cattle for a living. During the past two months, tigers had killed and eaten about 20 cows belonging to them and other local farmers.
They felt they had no choice but to put an end to it.
They told the police that they had borrowed shotguns issued to some defence volunteers.
National park rangers seized the pelts of two Bengal tigers and other items at a campsite near the Myanmar border on Jan 9.
The hunters fled the campsite, leaving meat from the tigers cooking on a grill.
