Trap kills Sumatran tiger in Indonesia

Yahoo News 1 Oct 10;

JAKARTA (AFP) – A Sumatran tiger that mauled a farmer to death last week has died from injuries inflicted by a trap set by local villagers, an Indonesian wildlife official said Friday.

The male tiger was already badly injured when it was trapped late Thursday in Bengkalis district of Riau province, provincial conservation agency head Danis Woro said.

"Its right rear leg may have been snared in a steel rope set by local villagers," he said.

"Apparently it managed to free itself from the steel wire but injured itself in the process. When we found it last night it was weak and limping."

The big cat died on Friday before it could be brought to a veterinarian, Woro added.

Villagers believed the animal was the same one that killed and partially ate an oil palm farmer on September 21.

There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, according to environmental group WWF.