Sumatran tigers trap Indonesians up a tree

[Still Waters]

Several tigers have trapped five Indonesian men up a tree in a national park on Sumatra island, after mauling a sixth person to death, police say.

The group was attacked on Thursday after they accidentally killed a tiger cub. One man died while the others managed to flee up some branches.

The survivors alerted nearby villagers using mobile phones.

It could take rescue crews up to three days before they find the men in the Gunung Leuser jungle, officials said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...d-asia-23217460

[Grandpa Greenman]

4 tigers come to rescue a club or cooperating on a kill, Is that normal tiger behavior? Lions would do that but I thought tigers were more solitary. Maybe they are out of their normal food.

[moonshadow60]

I don't think tigers understand the concept of "accidentally" killing a cub. Kind of made me chuckle that the men used their cell phones to call for help. I hope they don't accidentally kill other tigers to rescue these fellows.

[redhen]

"The six men, all from Simpang Kiri village in Aceh Tamiang district, had ventured into the national park in search of rare incense wood."

Is it legal to strip plants and trees in a national park in Indonesia?

"People keep entering the jungle to look for the wood because it's very expensive," the police chief said.

Of course.

"But that's the risk: there are many tigers and elephants in Gunung Leuser jungle."

The group set up deer traps for food, but accidentally caught a tiger cub."

Is it legal to hunt and trap in national Indonesian parks?

“The Sumatran tiger is already listed as Critically Endangered on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, the highest category of threat before extinction in the wild,”

"Indonesia has the dubious distinction of having seen two of its tiger species fall into extinction and, as a leading environmental group says the Sumatran tiger will soon follow suit if urgent action is not taken"

And now they're going to go into the jungle and shoot the tigers that are threatening the trappers. Good job.

What are they going to do when they cause the extinction of their third tiger species in Indonesia and can't harvest any more "magical" body parts?

[Grandpa Greenman]

Mother nature on an idiot hunt.

[moonshadow60]

In certain parts of the world the body parts of albino humans are on the market now as magical cures. Perhaps that is replacing other endangered animals as medicine. What a world.