Man convicted for killing and eating China's last Indochinese tiger

[Ian David]

The last Indochinese tiger in China was killed and eaten by a man who has now been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crime.

The Indochinese tiger (also known as Corbett's tiger or Panthera tigris corbetti) is an endangered tiger subspecies that used to live in China, but now only exists in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, where it remains under heavy threat from poachers.

Kang Wannian, the villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, claims he killed the tiger last February in self-defense. But that didn't stop him and four others from butchering and eating the animal. His dining mates were also convicted and will spend three to four years in jail for "covering up and concealing criminal gains," according to a Tuesday report in the China National News.

Indochinese tigers are...well, were...legally protected in China. The last time the subspecies was officially seen in the country was 2007, and some believed that Kang killed that tiger. He received a ten-year sentence for killing a rare animal, plus another two years for possessing an illegal firearm.



More:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=man-convicted-for-killing-and-eatin-2009-12-25

Looks like this is the SECOND time the dude has done this.

[TexasObserver]

1. I've always heard about the man eating tiger, but ...

[derby378]

2. How sad...

Maybe one day, when tiger populations become stabilized, some Corbett's tigers can be reintroduced to China.

[pnorman]

3. WWC&HD?

What Would Calvin & Hobbes Do?

http://www.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/index.html

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/zzaran/calvin.html