Angry mob beats a tiger to death with sticks after it attacked their village and injured nine people
- Heartbreaking video shows mob relentlessly clubbing a five-year-old tigress
- Tigress succumbed to its injuries hours later, but villagers never told officials
- District Magistrate: ‘We are hunting’ some of the identified attackers in the video
This is the heartbreaking moment a five-year-old tiger was beaten to death by a mob of angry villagers.
Footage shows at least 40 villagers mercilessly beating the big cat with big sticks as it growls for mercy.
The mob scream ‘charge’ at the feline before they huddle over the helpless tiger and club it relentlessly.
According to the forest officials, the tiger had injured nine villagers and they were seeking to exact revenge of the beast.
On finding the tiger, the villagers are said to have intercepted the animal and trapped it in a pincer movement.
Footage shows the crowd of predominantly men descend on the tigress, beating it with large bamboo sticks.
The tigress succumbed to its injuries hours later and died.
Footage shows at least 30 villagers mercilessly beating the big cat with big sticks as it growls for mercy
The incident took place nearby a place where the forest officials were already stationed in the Matiana village of the Pillibhit district in Uttar Pradesh in India.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against 31 identified and 12 unidentified people.
The District Magistrate of Pillibhit Vaibhab Srivastava said: ‘Some of the attackers have been identified and we are hunting them.’
On finding the tiger, the villagers are said to have intercepted the animal and trapped it in a pincer movement
‘The tigress was assessed by the vets and they say it succumbed to its injuries.’
According to reports, the villagers did not alert forest officials that the tiger had been injured.
The District Magistrate added: ‘The villagers didn’t allow the animal to be taken to the veterinary, had it arrived to the vets in time it could have survived.’
Since 2012, the Pilibhit district and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve have witnessed deaths of as many as 16 tigers and 3 leopards within the jungle and its surroundings.
No mercy: The mob of villagers relentless club the helpless the five-year-old feline as it lies on its back
Last year, over a hundred tiger deaths were recorded in India and so far, there have been at least 52 recorded deaths in 2019.
The tiger is the national animal of India and home to roughly 70 percent of the global tiger population.
However, rises in developmental pressures have led to habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict which has threatened the species.