Rare Sumatran Tiger Killed, Mutilated By Villagers Who Believed It Was Shapeshifter
Channel: Extra One Tv 365
Date: 2018-03-06

Rare Sumatran Tiger Killed, Mutilated By Villagers Who Believed It Was Shapeshifter
Villagers in a remote Indonesian community, who believed a supernatural shapeshifter was hiding out in their community, killed an endangered Sumatran tiger, reports said Monday.

Locals in northern Sumatra's Hatorangan village disemboweled the tiger and put the endangered animal on display by hanging it from a ceiling, strapped to a wooden plank, and dozens of villagers crowded around to see it. There are believed to be lesser than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the entire world.

Conservation officials said Monday that the endangered animal was slain Sunday after it apparently attacked one or two residents, who had followed the animal to its lair in order to determine whether it was a mythological, supernatural creature. 

Officials said they had warned the villagers and advised them not to kill the animal, however the locals ignored and prevented the officials from intervening.

“Unfortunately they would not listen. They insisted on killing the tiger,” local conservation agency head Hotmauli Sianturi told Sky News. “After killing the animal, the locals hung up its body for display. It’s very regrettable.”

According to the Jakarta Post, superstitious villagers feared it was a "siluman," or shapeshifter, and when officials refused to kill it, the locals took matters into their own hands and decided to kill the endangered animal themselves.

The tiger was reportedly resting under a resident’s stilt house when it was attacked by the villagers. The locals then allegedly surrounded the animal and plunged spears repeatedly into the tiger’s abdomen.