Man-eater experiences should be e-mailed to  Loadstar. All submissions welcome.

Stories from Vietnam:

Tiger attacks increased during the Vietnam war; this was due to the frequency with which bodies lay unburied. Despite claims to the contrary, tigers will scavenge and feed at old kills, be they their own, or someone else's. Having developed a taste for human flesh they would then attack soldiers quite readily. The first stories illustrate some of the many tiger encounters experienced in during the Vietnamese war.

Tiger Killed Near Vietnam Border:

Quang Tri, Vietnam--A man-eating tiger was killed by members of a small recon patrol when the 400 pound cat attacked a 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion Marine in the northwestern corner of South Vietnam. 

The Marine who was attacked is listed in a satisfactory condition at a military hospital in Quang Tri. Identification is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin. 

The six man recon team was on an observation mission near Fire Support Base Alpine, about six miles east of the Laotian Border, when it encountered the tiger. The team had completed its assigned mission and was waiting to be heli-lifted from the area, when the incident occurred. Bad weather conditions had prevented their immediate extraction and the team  had posted a two-man radio watch while the others settled down to sleep. 

The tiger struck swiftly and silently. 

"Suddenly I heard somebody scream",said PFC Thomas E. Shainline, "then somebody else was yelling, it's a tiger, its a tiger!" 

PFC Roy Regan, who had been sleeping next to the victim recalled, "I jumped up and saw the tiger with his mouth around my partner. "

"All I could think about was to get the tiger away from him. I jumped at the tiger and the cat jerked his head and jumped into a bomb crater 10 meters away, still holding his prey." 

The Marines quickly followed the tiger to the crater and opened fire on the attacking beast. They could not be sure which one of them actually killed the tiger, since they all fired at it. Once hit, the tiger released his prey and the man staggered out of the bomb crater. 

"He looked dazed and he asked what happened", recalled PFC Maurice M. Howell.   

The injured Marine was given first aid treatment and a Marine CH-46 helicopter arrived to pick up the injured Marine, the rest of the team and the dead tiger. 

The injured Marine was rushed to the 3rd Medical Battalion Hospital at Quang Tri, suffering from lacerations and bites on the neck. 

The tiger, measuring nine feet from head to tail, was transported to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion headquarters. 

The incident took place about ten miles south of the demilitarized zone near a spot where a young Marine was slain by a man-eating tiger Nov. 12. 

Military authorities had sent out a Marine contingent and two professional South Vietnamese tiger hunters three weeks ago to find the killer tiger and three others believed in the area, but the hunt failed. 

Note: There is some debate about the date of this attack and I have had several e-mails regarding this.  

Some stories claim it was 1968, but soldiers stationed in Vietnam at the time think it occurred in November of 1967, though the story did not go to print until January 1968.

 (Continued Page 14)

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