 |
| Sumatran Tiger |
The men were looking for rare agarwood — used to make incense and perfume — and accidently caught a tiger cub in a trap they were using to catch deer for food, said district police chief Lt. Col. Dicky Sondani.
The incident caused five other tigers in the area to attack the men, citing reports from villagers who received mobile phone messages Thursday from the survivors. One of the men was mauled to death, while the five others managed to climb into trees.
The rescue team needed three days to reach the rugged area. There were seven tigers wandering around the trees but four left before the rescuers arrived, he said. The rescue team of soldiers, policemen and conservationists was sent to get the men after the villagers failed to reach the men because of the tigers.
The guys finally made it down safely but were very weak and tired from the experience.
On a side note, the Javanese tiger and Balinese tiger are both extinct, and the Sumatran tiger is critically endangered. The last confirmed sighting of a Balinese tiger happened in 1937, when an adult female shot and killed by a Dutch man. However, my friends in Tinga-Tinga that still go deep into the west Bali forests to trap exotic birds tell me they have seen tiger footprints.
