Three endangered Sumatran tigers have been found dead after being caught in traps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

A female tiger was found dead, with her head nearly severed and a trap still stuck in her leg, near a palm oil plantation in Indonesia’s East Aceh district on Sunday. Five hundred meters away, the bodies of a male and female tiger were also found, both with leg injuries, according to local police chief Hendra Sukmana.

An autopsy is being carried out to determine the causes of the deaths, said Agus Arianto, who heads the conservation agency in Aceh, adding that several traps similar to those used to catch wild boar on farms have been found in the area around the farms. dead tigers.

The species was classified as critically endangered in 2008 by the International Union for Conservation of Naturewhile its population was estimated at less than 680. Today, it is the most endangered species of tiger in the world, with its numbers dwindling below 400. Authorities have called the recent deaths a setback for the species.

“We strongly condemn this incident,” Arianto said in a statement. Indonesian authorities have also urged plantation companies and the public to stop setting traps in forest areas, which are home to wildlife such as tigers, rhinos, elephants and orangutans – many of which are rare.

Poaching for profit and a shrinking jungle habitat at the hands of palm oil plantations and illegal logging are putting Sumatran tigers, among other species, in increasing danger.

A female tiger was found dead in a snare trap last October at Bukit Batu Wildlife Sanctuary in Bengkalis district. Just two months earlier, two cubs and an adult tiger were found dead in a forested area for tiger conservation in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, known as the Leuser Ecosystem Area. .

Four men were also arrested last June for allegedly snaring a tiger and selling its remains.

Sumatran tigers aren’t the only species to have been killed by snares. A baby elephant has died after losing half of its trunk in a trap set by poachers last November.

Intentionally killing protected animals is illegal and violators can face up to five years in prison and a fine of 100 million rupees (nearly $7,000) under Indonesia’s Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation Law.