Savage tiger moved to safari park<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A seven-year-old Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris Sumatraensis)
\nbelieved to have killed five people in Dumai, Riau, arrived
\nsafely at Taman Safari Indonesia in Bogor on Tuesday at 3:30 a.m.
\nafter a three-day trip overland.<\/p>\n
The tiger, weighing between 100 kilograms and 120 kg, was
\ncaptured in the Basilam Baru subdistrict of Sungai Sembilan
\ndistrict in Dumai, on Friday, said Yohanna Trihastuti, a
\nveterinarian from Taman Safari who joined the operation to save
\nthe tiger.<\/p>\n
\"It was believed to have killed five people, one of them a
\nwoman, and countless cattle belonging to local residents from
\nJuly to September,\" she told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
In August, upset residents, with the help of a local pawang
\n(animal tamer), launched a massive search for the feline and
\ncaught a very young tiger, which was immediately killed despite
\nthe fact that Sumatran tigers are one of the few species
\nprotected under Law No. 5\/1999 on conservation.<\/p>\n
But they obviously had the wrong feline, as on Sept. 3 another
\nman was found dead after he was attacked by a tiger, which was
\nbelieved to be the same one that had claimed the other four
\nlives.<\/p>\n
The Riau natural resources conservation office later set traps
\nto catch the tiger, but their efforts were in vain. Their lack of
\nsuccess later led them to seek help from the Taman Safari
\nmanagement in Bogor and the Forestry Agency in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
A team to save the tiger left Jakarta on Sept. 10, and after
\nconducting a survey of the area, they set three traps in Kampong
\nSimpang Latif in the Basilam Baru subdistrict. The tiger was
\ncaught Friday.<\/p>\n
The local conservation agency then asked Taman Safari, which
\nhas about 25 Sumatran tigers in its care, to keep it.<\/p>\n
Local residents, who learned that the tiger had been caught,
\ndemanded that the feline be put on public display for three days
\nbefore it was taken to Bogor.<\/p>\n
\"We couldn't do that as the tiger would have died from
\nstress,\" Yohanna said.<\/p>\n
After negotiations, the team showed the tiger on Saturday on
\nthe condition that the feline was put in a cage on a trailer,
\nwhich could be later hauled away by the vehicle that would
\ntransport it to Bogor. The cage was later covered to minimize the
\ntiger's stress from being watched by people.<\/p>\n
A number of tigers are roaming the villages as their habitat
\nis shrinking from rampant illegal logging.<\/p>\n
There are 400 Sumatran tigers scattered throughout the Riau
\nprovince, according to data provided by the natural resources
\nconservation office.<\/p>\n
Their numbers, however, are decreasing as many are being
\npoached for their fur and body parts. Out of the 65 Sumatran
\ntigers that were killed from 1998 to 2001, 60 of them were
\npoached.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/savage-tiger-moved-to-safari-park-1447893297",
"image": ""
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