Plantation Worker Mauled to Death by Tiger

He was reportedly 3rd person in Indonesia killed by Sumatran tiger in 5 months
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted May 14, 2024 1:16 PM CDT
Plantation Worker Mauled to Death by Tiger
A Sumatran tiger.   (Getty Images/Francisco Martins)

Screams were heard on Indonesia's Sumatra island before a man's body was discovered Thursday, with one of the hands torn off. Authorities say the 26-year-old, found dead on a plantation in Riau province, was attacked by a tiger. "The area is within the tiger habitat," said Genman Suhefti Hasibuan, head of the local conservation agency, per AFP. Speaking Friday, the local police chief said two workers heard the victim scream while spraying weeds in an acacia plantation. They searched for their friend but discovered only tiger prints. Police said the body was found later with bite wounds to the neck and a severed right hand.

It's "at least the third time a tiger has killed a human in the past five months" in Indonesia, where roughly 400 critically endangered Sumatran tigers roam in patches of woods not yet subject to deforestation, per CBS News. Officials were still pursuing the big cat as of Saturday. Rangers are also said to be hunting other tigers suspected in recent attacks in Lampung province. AFP reports "hundreds of angry villagers mobbed and torched the forest rangers' headquarters" inside Bukit Barisan National Park in March, demanding action after four people were attacked in that area, two fatally, over a couple of weeks. (More Indonesia stories.)

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