Rare tiger mauls monitor camera

The camera captured this image before it was attacked

A tiger belonging to a rare species in the remote jungles of Indonesia has been destroying surveillance cameras, the environmental group WWF says.

WWF had been puzzled by how several heat-sensitive photo traps had been destroyed after a very rare Sumatran tiger was photographed passing by.

The WWF says the cat was frightened by the camera's flash and attacked the cameras, destroying them.

Fewer than 500 of the big cats are estimated to be left in the wild.

Loggers, poachers and other wildlife have destroyed cameras in the past, a WWF spokesman said, but this was the first time the vandal had been positively identified.

WWF had set up the cameras to observe life in the deep jungles of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.