Kept as a pet – Indonesia: Tiger kills housekeeper in cage

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A fatal incident has occurred in Indonesia involving a tiger that was being kept illegally as a pet. A man was found dead in the tiger cage on Saturday. The 27-year-old was likely attacked and killed by the big cat, Indonesian media reported. The victim’s wife found the young man in the cage with scratches on his body and a missing toe.

The 27-year-old, who worked as a housekeeper, was feeding his boss’ tiger when the attack happened, it was said. His wife initially waited outside the house. But when she noticed that her husband was taking longer than usual, she went in. There her husband lay motionless in the cage.

Animal kept illegally as a pet
Initial investigations indicate the tiger was a four-year-old Sumatran tiger that had been illegally kept as a pet since birth, said the head of the wildlife authority in East Kalimantan province, Ari Wibawanto. They now want to take the animal to a protected area, says local police spokesman Yusuf Sutejo.

Photos and video from police showed the tiger being held in a cage in an enclosed area. The Sumatran tiger, the smallest living subspecies of the big cats, lives in Indonesia. Animal protection organizations estimate that there are only between 400 and 600 specimens of Panthera tigris sumatrae left today.

Sumatran tigers are threatened with extinction
In addition to poaching, loss of natural habitat, for example due to palm oil plantations, has also decimated numbers. The animals are listed as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Other Indonesian subspecies such as the Bali tiger and the Java tiger are already extinct.

Source: Krone

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