The tiger, a 5- to 6-year-old female, attacked a man who had entered the reserve to fish in a stream. Villagers who were working in rice paddies nearby tried to chase away the tiger, and in the ensuing battle, another eight people were injured, one of whom later died, Mr. Srivastava said.
Several dozen men quickly formed a posse intent on killing the tiger, forestry officials said.
When a small contingent of forest rangers tried to calm things down, the villagers roughed them up and snatched a mobile phone to stop them calling for backup. The rangers were armed only with wooden sticks and were vastly outnumbered, said H. Rajamohan, the tiger reserve’s field director.
When senior forestry officials tried to reach the area, villagers blocked them and attacked their cars.
As they did so, others closed in on the tiger.
According to Mr. Rajamohan, someone speared the tiger, and as it lay on its back, thrashing in the grass, villagers began to rain down blows from sticks and machetes.
“Kill! Kill!” several shouted as they pulled bamboo poles high over their heads and smashed the tiger in the face and body.
Mr. Rajamohan said the tiger crawled into the jungle, where the mob continued to beat it. Several hours later, the tiger died. Practically every part of its body was badly injured, including a broken jaw and many cracked ribs.
India takes tiger killings seriously; some are investigated like homicides. Authorities in the Pilibhit area said they had closely studied the video of the killing, identifying 30 suspects, with at least four arrested.
Source : Nytimes
