A Sumatran tiger was killed yesterday by residents of Bankelang Village in the Mandailing Natal Regency of North Sumatra. The brutal slaying of the big cat, part of a protected and critically endangered species, was reportedly driven by the villagers’ supernatural superstitions.
According to authorities, the residents of Bankelang had been troubled by the presence of the tiger roaming in the area, with rumors that said tiger was actually a supernatural beast with a human head. Two weeks ago, a villager went into the woods to confirm the rumor, where he was severely wounded after being bitten by the tiger.
Then, yesterday morning, the tiger was spotted in the village. The villagers forced the tiger to retreat under a stilt house, where the tiger was speared to death by the villagers and shot by a local policeman after they said that it was trying to come out.
“BBSKDA (Natural Resources Conservation Agency) officials had been in Bangkelang Village for the past week to monitor the situation. Officials had repeatedly tried to stop the tiger from entering the village, as well as convince people not to kill it. But it was no use,” said North Sumatra BBSKDA Head Hotmauli Sianturi, as quoted by Tempo.
The villagers then took the tiger’s carcass, tied it to a bench, and lifted it with ropes to hang it from a ceiling in the village’s public hall. Photos of the gruesome display, like the one above, went viral on social media.
BBSKDA contacted the provincial police to help secure the tiger’s body for an autopsy. They noted that several of the tiger’s organs were missing.
No arrests have been made so far. Under Indonesian law, killing a protected species is punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Sumatran tigers are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only 400 to 500 remaining in the wild.
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