An Orang Asli man was attacked and nearly killed by a tiger in the Belum-Temengor forest in Malaysia. The man, 60, was hunting squirrels when he spotted a 80 to 90 kg (176-198 lbs) tiger that appeared to be following him. The man attempted to jump up into a tree but the large cat caught him and dragged him down. At that point, he had no other option but to fight it off:
"I was terrified and I used all my strength to punch the animal in the face, but it would not budge. I had to wrestle with it to keep its jaws away from me, and it would have clawed me to death if my wife had not arrived."Hearing the tiger, the man's wife, 55, ran to his aid and drove the tiger off after beating it repeatedly in the head with a large wooden ladle. The man had severe lacerations on his head, face, neck and both knees but should survive. Read the rest of the story here.
Tiger attacks are somewhat unusual but not unheard-of. When tiger populations were high, attacks were very common. According to wikipedia, between 1800 and 1900, it is estimated that tigers had killed over 10,000 people in India alone.
