Mayor shoots chicken breeder dead after she asked for his help dealing with a fox and he mistook her for the animal while hunting it
- Dilyara Valiullina, 38, sought help after a fox kept attacking her chicken coop
- She enlisted mayor Fidail Nigmatzyanov but he mistook her for a fox and shot her
- Valiullina died of blood loss on the way to hospital after incident in Russia
A village mayor is facing jail for shooting a woman dead after allegedly mistaking her for a fox when he tried to take down a predator raiding a chicken coop.
Dilyara Valiullina, 38, died on the way to hospital from blood loss after the incident in Kulanga, in the Russian region of Tatarstan.
The mother-of-two, a chicken breeder, had turned to the mayor, Fidail Nigmatzyanov, 52, after a fox made repeated attacks on her coop.
Dilyara Valiullina (pictured left), 38, died on the way to hospital from blood loss after enlisting village mayor Fidail Nigmatzyanov (right), 52, to help her deal with a fox
The woman had turned to the mayor after a fox made repeated attacks on her coop (file photo)
The local politician and the woman’s husband set up an ambush, and lay in wait, say reports.
During their vigil, Dilyara joined them wearing a torch on a band around her head.
The batteries were fading and the mayor claimed he mistook the dull lights for the fox’s eyes.
He shot twice, and the woman screamed in pain.
Her husband dragged her into his car and rushed her to hospital, but she was dead on arrival.
A criminal case has been opened against Nigmatzyanov for causing death by negligence during the fox hunt.
Investigators the next day saw a fox at the scene and spotted paw prints.
A fox had left paw prints and feathers at the scene which investigators saw the day after the woman was fatally injured
The scene where the woman was killed, after the batteries in her head torch were fading and the mayor claimed he mistook the dull lights for the fox’s eyes