A rare Sumatran tiger has mauled a farmer to death on Indonesia's Sumatra island, prompting terrified villagers to call for the animal to be killed, a park official said today.

The same animal is suspected of attacking five other people.

The official at Batang Gadis National Park, Yudi Santoso, said 32-year-old Karman Lubis was killed while working on a rubber plantation near the park in North Sumatra province yesterday. His body was found less than a kilometre from the plantation.

Fearful farmers have asked authorities to shoot the tiger, even though it is protected by law. The local government plans to try to trap and relocate it.

The same tiger is thought to be responsible for attacks on five other people as well as livestock over the past month in Jambi, another province on Sumatra island, said Nurazman Nurdin, an official with the provincial nature conservation agency.

A farmer and four plantation workers were admitted to hospital with injuries after those attacks, Mr Nurdin said.

Indonesia is home to some 400 Sumatran tigers, which are on the brink of extinction because of deforestation, poaching and clashes with people. The World Wildlife Fund says their numbers have dwindled to about 400, down from about 1,000 in the 1970s.

The biggest threat to conservation is conflict with humans, according to the 2009 report by the Forestry Ministry. On average, five to 10 Sumatran tigers have been killed every year since 1998, the report said.