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| An Indochinese tiger. Forest management forces in Quang Binh Province are searching for a wounded tiger that is suspected to be hiding in a mountain after falling off a car driven by wildlife smugglers last week |
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Pham Hong Thai, chief of the Quang Binh Forest Management Department, Friday told the Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper the search is being carried out in Quang Dong Commune.
On Thursday, Nguyen Van Hoang, deputy chairman of the commune People’s Committee, said the tiger may have dropped to the ground while being transported in a car by wildlife smugglers on the National Highway 1A section that runs through the commune.
According to Hoang, local residents heard the sound of something heavy dropping on the highway, followed by a growl, at around 3 a.m. on August 5.
Several hours later, residents saw blood on a 100-meter stretch of the highway. Tracking the blood stains, they also found footprints on a nearby mountain.
A group of locals who said they were hunters, although hunting is illegal in the country, said the prints look as though they belong to a 100-kilogram tiger.
A young man named Quang said he also found blood stains on the grass on the Hoanh Son Mountain.
Since the speculations about the tiger began doing the rounds, residents living near the mountain have stopped going to collect firewood for fear of being attacked by the animal.
T.N
(MONRE)