14 DAY TRIAL // Tigers inhabiting the Indonesian island of Sumatra usually avoid coming anywhere near humans. Unfortunately, the animals had a change of heart when a group of hunters killed one of their cubs.
Long story short, the felines mauled one of the hunters belonging to this group to death, and chased the remaining five men up a tree.
It appears that the hunters are still trapped in the tree, and that it will take about three more days before help reaches them.
Daily Mail reports that the hunters did not kill the tiger cub on purpose. What they did was set up traps, hoping to catch deer for food.
Unfortunately, the baby tiger walked right into one of them and soon died because of the injuries the trap had caused it.
“The group were attacked by tigers on Thursday after they caught and killed a tiger cub in a snare meant to catch a deer.”
“Nearby tigers drawn to the scene of the fatally injured cub pounced on the men and killed 28-year-old David as the five others climbed a tree to safety,” Police Chief Dicky Sondani told the press.
At least for a while, local authorities will be able to keep tabs on the five hunters with the help of mobile phones. Still, there is no telling what will happen once the batteries die.
Police officers say that, for the time being, they are unable to go in search of them.
“We can't go rushing in to rescue the men in the tree because of the remoteness and because of the tigers still being there at the base of the tree,” Dicky Sondani wished to clarify.
Both authorities and the men's families fear that the hunters will eventually grow tired and fall out of the tree. Some also fear that the tigers will get sick of waiting and attempt climbing the trees themselves.
Such incidents often happen in areas where people and wildlife are forced to coexist.
Conservationists are worried that, as human communities continue to expand, run-ins between people and predators will become a thing of the day.