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One dead in suspected tiger attack in Indonesia, hunt underway

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A man was found dead in western Indonesia following a suspected attack by a Sumatran tiger that authorities were still hunting, a local official said on Saturday, the latest case of conflict between humans and the endangered species.

There are only a few hundred tigers left in the wild on the western island of Sumatra, and their body parts are often targeted by poachers, while rampant deforestation has significantly reduced their habitat.

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A man was found dead in western Indonesia following a suspected attack by a Sumatran tiger that authorities were still hunting, a local official said on Saturday, the latest case of conflict between humans and the endangered species.

There are only a few hundred tigers left in the wild on the western island of Sumatra and their body parts are often targeted by poachers, while rampant deforestation has significantly reduced their habitat.

A team of conservationists was dispatched on Saturday to search for the big cat after the 26-year-old male victim was found dead on Thursday afternoon at a plantation in Riau province on the island of Sumatra. The wounds indicated a tiger attack.

“Our team left this morning (to search for the tiger). According to the report, the area is within tiger habitat,” Genman Suhefti Hasibuan, head of the local wildlife agency, told AFP on Saturday.

Local police chief Budi Setiawan said late Friday they received a report that two workers heard their friend screaming while spraying weeds at an acacia plantation.

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The workers tried to look for their colleague but instead found tiger tracks on the ground.

They reported the incident to the plantation management, who sent more people to search for the victim.

The victim’s body was later found with a severed right hand and bite marks on his neck, Setiawan said.

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In February, at least four farmers were attacked by Sumatran tigers in two incidents in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh.

Sumatran tigers are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and fewer than 400 animals are believed to remain in the wild.

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