Tigers chase men up trees, trap them there for days

Men in a jungle in Indonesia were checking their traps when they discovered they had killed a tiger cub.

Adult tigers waiting nearby were not happy with the six trappers.

The tigers lunged for them, sending the men scrambling for their lives up two trees, said police on Sumatra.

Maybe there was not enough room on one of the trees. Perhaps the men ahead of him climbed too slowly. Whichever the case, one of the men didn't make it.

The tigers snatched him down before he could escape the reach of their claws, said police Chief Dicky Sondani. They mauled him to death in front of the other five men.

Then they waited underneath the trees for the remaining men to come down.

Days and nights passed, but the tigers did not budge. The men found themselves in a waiting game in the tree tops, drinking rainwater to survive, Sondani said.

A team of 30 rescuers combed the forest for them.

They found the trappers duly traumatized, said a spokesman for the park.

The dead man was buried. Two of the survivors were taken to a hospital. The others went home to rest and recover. The five have a date with park officials in 10 days, said Andi Basrul, head of Mt. Leuser National Park.

There will be some questions for them to answer about what they were doing in the park in the first place, where humans are forbidden by law to tread -- let alone set traps.

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