Cf Washington Post: Sumatran villagers kill tiger thinking it was supernatural being

[torakiyoshi]

This is ridiculously sad.

(WARNING: Link contains pictures of the slaughtered tiger, but also links to other news articles with hope for tigers, too.)

Villagers thought they killed a supernatural shape-shifter. It was an endangered Sumatran tiger. - The Washington Post

Comments

[thewayne]

That is just too sad for words.

[torakiyoshi]

Yeah. I'm pretty much speechless. And that's saying something.

[keross]

This: “After an investigation into Sunday’s slaying, officials said that the tiger was missing internal organs as well as its teeth, claws and some of its skin.” makes me question the veracity of this claim “superstitious villagers feared it was a “siluman,” or shape-shifter,”

That beautiful cat was killed so his parts could be used for traditional medicine. Sadly, this is not uncommon in Sumatra. According to reports, locals believe that Flying Fox meat can cure asthma. (Flying Fox - Megachiroptera or Megabats - are fruit bats)

[torakiyoshi]

You're not thinking like someone in an animistic religion. More likely, they removed those parts because it disables the shapeshifter from returning to life, and possibly removes it from the reincarnation cycle. The body parts are quite likely cursed, so they wouldn't be sold on the black market. At least, not until the investigators said they were purely natural (assuming they had not yet been destroyed).