IPOH: In a heart-stopping instant, a woman froze in horror as she witnessed a tiger dragging her husband away from their home in Gerik.
Her 54-year-old husband had gone out to use the toilet at dawn yesterday when the animal made its appearance.
His Thai wife, who had heard roaring sounds, opened the door of their rumah kongsi (shared residence) and saw the unimaginable – a tiger pulling her husband toward some bushes nearby.
“His body was discovered later in the day, about 100m away from the house, with serious wounds on the left leg and neck,” said Perak police chief Datuk Comm Azizi Mat Aris.
The man, a Malaysian who worked as a heavy machinery operator, was believed to have been mauled by the tiger, he said in a statement.
According to Comm Azizi, the attack happened yesterday between 5am and 6am outside the Bagan Balak shared residence near KM79.2 of the Gerik-Jeli East West Highway.
The Gerik District Control Centre had received information at about 8.25am that a man was attacked by a tiger as he was going to the toilet and that the incident was witnessed by his wife, who works as a cook.
“She heard the roars of a tiger. When she opened the door, she saw the animal dragging the man away,” he said.
Comm Azizi said the Bersia police station chief, together with three personnel, a team from the Gerik police district headquarters Criminal Investigation Department and 10 staff members of the Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department, went to the location to conduct a search and rescue operation.
At around noon, he said the man’s body was found near the house. He was pronounced dead then.
“The body of the victim was sent to the Gerik Hospital’s forensic unit for a post mortem,” he added.
