Note to self:

Do not play with tigers.
Always.
The end.


http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/sumatran-tigers-trap-5-men-tree-4-days-kills-1.html


Angered by cub's death

We often write about the impact of humans (poachers, habitat destruction, etc) on endangered animals, but this story is a bit different. Deep in the jungle of Indonesia, a group of men were looking for a rare type of wood to make incense (it's not clear what kind of wood it was or if it's a protected species, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt). Problems began after they accidentally killed a tiger cub with a trap designed to catch antelopes and deer for food (that's the official story anyway -- we'll give them the benefit of the doubt again, but if they were poachers, they had their lesson); a group of adult Sumatran tigers, which are considered 'critically endangered' by the IUCN Red List, decided that the men looked like dinner and chased them, killing one and leaving the five others trapped in a tree for 4 days.



Flickr/CC BY 2.0


A team of 30 rescuers, including police and soldiers, reached the men deep in the jungle in the north of Sumatra island on Sunday – to find the ravenous tigers still circling the tree.
They did not dare approach, so called in three local animal tamers.
"The rescue team stood back while the tamers approached the animals and chanted some mantras," district police chief Dicky Sondani told AFP. "The tigers eventually just left."

They probably left because tigers are generally afraid of humans - except maybe when defending their cubs - and not because of the mantas, but in any case, the men were rescued. They were very scared and dehydrated (surviving on rainwater alone), but alive.


It is estimated that there are only 400-500 Sumatran tigers still alive in the wild, and unfortunately,
humans are encroaching more and more on their habitat, especially because of logging (legal and illegal).
________________________________________________________________________

I've been slowly making my way thru this book for the last few months:












Great book.

Short story:

Hunter ticks off tiger by stealing a deer that the tiger killed.

Tiger tracks hunter for many days, stalking him down, including but not limited to attacking the outhouse at the logging camp that hunter used.

Seriously: that's a pissed off kitty.

Eyewitnesses were there to tell the forest rangers exactly what happened.

The tiger entered the camp, following a scent to the outhouse, then tore it pieces as they watched and then circled their building and making several charges at the door over the next 48 hours.




________________________________________________________________________













Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930) undertook twelve major scientific expeditions between 1902 and 1930 in the Siberian Far East, and authored some sixty works from the geographical, geological, botanical, and ethnographic data he amassed. Among these, Dersu the Trapper has earned a privileged place in Russian literature. In this Russian counterpart to The Journals of Lewis and Clark and the novels of James Fenimore Cooper, Arseniev combines the precise observations of a naturalist with an exciting narrative of real-life adventure.

Arseniev describes three explorations in the Ussurian taiga along the Sea of Japan above Vladivostok, beginning with his first encounter of the solitary aboriginal hunter named Dersu, a member of the Gold tribe, who thereafter becomes his guide. Each expedition is beset with hardship and danger: through blizzard and flood and assorted deprivations, these two men forge an exceptional friendship in their mutual respect for the immense grandeur of the wilderness. But the bridges across language, race and culture also have limitations, and the incursion of civilization exacts its toll. Dersu the Trapper is at once a witnessing of Russia's last frontier and a poignant memoir of rare cross-cultural understanding. Originally published in 1941, this English translation is reprinted in its entirety now for the first time.


________________________________________________________________________







http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/horrors-at-chinese-tiger-farm-reports-undercover-us-diplomat.html






Animal Cruelty in the Name of Superstition and Money

Sometimes, there's nothing like seeing for yourself. A U.S. diplomat posed as a Korean tourist and went to south China to visit a notorious 'tiger farm' where over 1,000 tigers are kept in cages. What he witnessed there confirms what the pessimists (and they are numerous these days) believe about China's tiger conservation efforts. The endangered animals were "whipped, made to perform 'marriage processions' and reportedly sold to be used in traditional medicines [...] the tiger farm offered tiger meat in its restaurant and tiger bone wine in a shop [...] most of the animals appear tame and some were used in circus-like entertainment shows, where they were beaten." Read on for more details.





Photo: Tigers in Crisis

Outrageous Treatment of Endangered Tigers

Also, some tigers were obviously not fed properly. We can't show you the picture that accompanies the Guardian article here, but you can see it by clicking this link. Warning: It's a sad one of a poor malnourished tiger, almost only a bag of bones...



Sadly, it isn't the first time that we get reports from China about tigers being mistreated and downright starved to death (for example: Mass Grave Containing Rare Animals (Tigers, Lions, Leopards, etc) Discovered at Chinese Zoo).


The trade in tiger parts is mostly fuelled by a combination of superstition and money:


In Taiwan, a bowl of tiger penis soup (to boost virility) goes for $320, and a pair of eyes (to fight epilepsy and malaria) for $170. Powdered tiger humerus bone (for treating ulcers rheumatism and typhoid) brings up to $1,450 lb. in Seoul.