Sumatran tigers face bleak future<\/p>\n
Grace Nirang, Reuters, Cisarua, West Java<\/p>\n
Peering out from a filthy cage, a Sumatran tiger roars angrily as
\na veterinarian sprays liquid antibiotic on its scratched face.<\/p>\n
The 110 kg seven-year-old tiger was captured in Sumatra's Riau
\nprovince in September after he was believed to have killed five
\npeople.<\/p>\n
It is one of the few remaining Sumatran tigers, whose numbers
\nhave declined sharply in the past decade and which
\nconservationists fear may become extinct in the next decade.<\/p>\n
\"We brought him here after a long negotiation with locals.
\nThey wanted to kill it as revenge, but we can't allow another
\nkilling of a Sumatran tiger,\" Yohanna Trihastuti, a veterinarian
\nfrom the private Safari Park in Cisarua some 120 km west of
\nJakarta, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
In August, angry Riau residents launched a big search for the
\nman-eater. They caught a very young tiger and killed it despite
\nthe fact that Sumatran tigers are one of the few species
\nprotected under Indonesian conservation laws.<\/p>\n
But they apparently caught the wrong cat, as another man was
\nfound dead from a tiger attack two weeks later. The local
\nconservation office then sought help from the Safari Park team to
\ncapture the real killer.<\/p>\n
Trihastuti said the captured tiger would be kept in the park's
\nquarantine center for two months before being moved to its
\nSumatran Tiger breeding center.<\/p>\n
\"We hope in the future he can become a stud for our breeding
\ncentre,\" Trihastuti said.<\/p>\n
The Safari Park has cared for 30 Sumatran tigers in its
\nbreeding centre since it was established in 1992. About 12 of the
\ntigers were born in the centre.<\/p>\n
The statistics for Sumatran tigers are disturbing: about 400
\nremained in the wild in 1992 and an average of 33 are killed each
\nyear, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).<\/p>\n
With a shrinking habitat -- most Sumatran forests have been
\nconverted into palm oil plantations -- and rampant poaching for
\nbody parts and fur, tiger numbers are sure to be lower now,
\nexperts said.<\/p>\n
\"A shrinking habitat because of rapid human population growth,
\nforest being cleared for plantations and illegal hunting are the
\nreasons for the sharp decline,\" said Jansen Manansang, the park's
\nmanaging director, who is also a coordinator for the national
\nSumatran Tiger Conservation Project.<\/p>\n
\"They come out of the jungle, as they have nothing to eat, and
\napproach the village, disturbing the livestock or attacking
\npeople.<\/p>\n
\"If they are caught by villagers, they usually kill the
\ntigers. We don't want that to happen. Maybe we can still save
\nthem, regardless of age, and put them in a captive breeding
\nprogramme to save their kind.\"<\/p>\n
The Sumatran tiger -- or panthera tigris sumatranensis --
\ncould be Indonesia's last species of tiger.<\/p>\n
The Balinese tiger became extinct at the beginning of the 20th
\ncentury and the Javan tiger has also been officially declared
\nextinct, although several park rangers have reported fairly
\nrecent sightings, unconfirmed by photographic or other evidence.<\/p>\n
The Safari Park's Sumatran tiger conservation programme keeps
\nstud books and a genome resource bank and employs a tiger rescue
\nteam that works to save tigers from villagers and poachers.<\/p>\n
\"Poachers kill tigers for their bones, which are used for
\nmedicine, but they also target the fur,\" Manansang said, adding
\ntigers were also captured alive to be sold illegally.<\/p>\n
\"I hate to say it, but owning a tiger is a status symbol for
\nsome people here.\"<\/p>\n
A stuffed Sumatran tiger carries one of the biggest price tags
\non the black market, about US$2,500. Pieces of the magnificent
\ncreature are also for sale -- tiger penises are sold as
\naphrodisiacs, and ground-up bones, claws and teeth go into
\ntraditional Chinese remedies for arthritis and rheumatism.<\/p>\n
\"It's sad to say, but the illegal trade is rampant here,\" said
\nChairul Saleh of the WWF. \"We may not be able to hear the roar of
\na Sumatran tiger, or see it, in the next seven to 12 years if no
\npreventive measures are taken.\"<\/p>\n
The total value of Indonesia's illegal animal trade is
\nunknown, but animal activists say hundreds of creatures are sold
\neach month despite protection under the Convention on
\nInternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and
\nFauna.<\/p>\n
Wild animals often wind up at the Pramuka Market in East
\nJakarta. Established in 1967 as a bird market, the market has
\nsold all manner of creatures since the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Overlooking it is a remnant of a failed campaign to combat the
\nillegal trade, a faded billboard threatening sellers and buyers
\nof endangered animals with five years imprisonment.<\/p>\n
\"Poaching and illegal trade are even more rampant after the
\neconomic crisis,\" Saleh said. \"Locals see it as a lucrative
\nsource of income.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sumatran-tigers-face-bleak-future-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}