Written by: Associated Press
2 min readBandaacehJul 9, 2013 04:20 AM IST
First published on: Jul 9, 2013 at 04:20 AM IST
Rescuers on Monday reached five men trapped in trees by several Sumatran tigers for five days after the angry animals mauled a sixth man to death,the police said.
First Lt. Surya Purba said three tamers managed to drive the tigers away before the men,who were in a weak condition,were evacuated from trees in the protected Mount Leuser National Park in Tamiang.
The men were looking for rare agarwood used to make incense and perfume and accidentally caught a tiger cub in a trap they were using to catch deer for food,said police chief Lt. Col. Dicky Sondani.
The incident caused five other tigers to attack the men,Sondani said,citing reports from villagers who received messages Thursday from the survivors. One of the men was mauled to death,while the others managed to climb trees.
The rescue team needed three days to reach the rugged area,said Sondani,who was worried that the men could be weak and fall from the trees due to a lack of food.
Sumatran tigers are critically endangered tiger subspecies. About 400 remain,down from 1,000 in the 1970s.
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