Female tiger beaten with sticks and stabbed to death by mob after ‘mauling nine villagers’
A FEMALE tiger has been beaten with sticks and stabbed to death by a mob after reportedly mauling nine villagers in India.
Harrowing footage shows a gang of villagers abusing the endangered tigress before the poor animal finally died nine hours later.
Local police have confirmed they have seen the video and 31 villagers are being investigated over the killing of the endangered animal.
Forestry officials who reached the Mataina village, located in India's Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district, where the attack took place, said they had not been able to do anything to save the animal.
BEATEN TO DEATH
Officials are now also being investigated for failing to attempt to euthanize the injured tigress or attempt to treat it – with reports saying it took nine hours for the big cat to die.
The location where the incident took place is close to the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve around 150 miles from the state capital Lucknow.
Shocking video footage shows the tiger, which was reportedly around six years old, repeatedly being hit by the villagers.
It also reportedly suffered severe cuts and broken bones.
A post-mortem is being carried out to determine an exact cause of death.
The footage also includes commentary from a person explaining that the animal was being killed because it had attacked and injured local villagers.
Local reports say nine villagers were injured after the tigress attacked them, however some conflicting reports state only one villager was seriously injured.
The tigress "sustained fractures and injuries… on almost every part of her body," Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) field director H Rajamohan told news agency IANS.
CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
In India, a general offence under the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972, gives out a three to seven-year prison sentence as well as a fine of just under £300.
Despite the penalties, the laws are difficult to enforce.
Wildlife Protection Society of India's wildlife crime database has records of over 1,144 tiger-related court cases, but only a few of these have resulted in convictions and most are still pending in the courts.
To date, WPSI records show that only 175 people have been convicted for killing a tiger or trading in tiger parts.
According to WWF, there are only under 10,000 tigers left in the world – with only 2500 of them left in India.
Pilibhit Tiger Reserve field director H Rajamohan told news agency IANS said that the tigress had stab wounds over almost her entire body as well as broken ribs.
The reserve said that around 16 tigers and three leopards had been killed since 2012 as a result of human interference – which included poisoning and the use of snares.
Tigers are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List.
Last year, a man was mauled by a rampaging bear after he attacked it for killing a couple.
Baipilli Urvasi, 50, and her husband Tirupathi Rao, 55, were mauled to death when the deadly beast pounced on them in an orchard in India.
Villagers went on to attack the brown bear and the enormous animal was seen fighting back.
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