Tiger Drags Away 41-Year-Old Man From Inside Toilet, Guards Half-Eaten Body In Forest

A 41-year-old man was mauled to death by a tiger near a logging site in the Khabarovsk region in Russia.

The victim has been identified as Mikhail Shabaldin. The man, who worked as a logger and was on a 15-day shift at the site, left his temporary accommodation late at night to go to the toilet. Officials believe the tiger pounced on him and mauled him while he was inside the toilet.

His colleagues found tiger footprints, bloodied clothes, shoes and pieces of toilet paper scattered all around the site.

Locals said the tiger dragged Shabaldin deep into the forest area after mauling him, Sleek Gist reported.

After hours of search, rangers found the tiger guarding the victim's body. Forest officers shot the animal dead and retrieved the victim's half-eaten body.

“The predator had dragged the body of the man into the forest," an officer said, according to Today UK News. “The beast was found next to the remains. The tiger had to be liquidated.”

Tiger specialists believe the animal had been previously attacked by poachers, which led to the predator attacking a human. They said the reason that provoked the tiger to attack the human would be clear after an investigation.

According to the locals, the loggers were afraid of the wild animals, especially the tigers that roamed the vicinity.

“Tigers are a frequent sight there,” one local reportedly said. “Everyone knows about this.”

Human and animal conflict have been on the rise as people start venturing more into forested areas. Earlier this month, a woman was believed to have been eaten alive by a pack of brown bears after she stormed off from a wedding ceremony in a forest in Russia. The victim, identified as 24-year-old Yana Balobanova, apparently got lost in the wooded area of Sverdlovsk and made several emergency calls. Rescuers launched a search for the woman, but were unable to find her. "It is now not doable to hope that the woman will likely be discovered alive," wildlife inspector Andrei Sakulin reportedly said at the time, adding there were footprints of a mother bear and cubs.