
Villagers on the island of Sumatra recently killed a male Sumatran tiger. They then skinned the animal and hung its body from the ceiling of the village hall. Some in the Indonesian press have called the incident “barbaric.” Did the villagers not know that tigers are a critically endangered species? In fact, the villagers did know. But they believed that this tiger was a “siluman,” a shape-shifter, that had been lingering in the village for more than a month. It had to be killed. The … [Read more...]