Roar of Sumatran tigers now too close for comfort
Roar of Sumatran tigers now too close for comfort
By Ampelsa
JAKARTA (ANTARA): The roar of Sumatran tigers living in the forests of Aceh are often heard by locals, but what was once a distant call is now too close for comfort.
Villagers say the tigers, protected by law, seem angry.
Illegal loggers have reportedly felled trees in the forests and damaged their environment.
An official of Aceh's Natural Resources Conservation Center, Bambang Suprayogi, confirmed that the tigers have been found in several villages.
Suprayogi admits encroachment by the tigers was started by "irresponsible people."
The headman of the Alue Raya Teunom village, M. Yusuf Husein, said his villagers have frequently been frightened by the tigers, which even dare to roam about the village in the daytime.
Husein said that they see tigers, wandering about in a relaxed manner, amble around their gardens and then prey upon cattle.
Locals have installed traps to catch the tigers, and looked for ways to kill them.
"Recently, three cows in West Aceh were mauled to death by tigers. A year ago a farmer in the district was forced to fight a tiger. Fortunately, he was saved by a group of people who heard his cries," Husein said.
West Aceh residents had tried to drive out tigers by using traditional ways. Government officials, however, ordered them to cease fearing the tigers would be killed.
The Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Center (NRCC) reported that the population of Sumatran tigers five years ago was 800.
Today, they number 500 -- which Suprayogi attributes to illegal logging.
Many tigers in West Aceh have migrated to North Sumatra and died of starvation or were killed by locals.
The local administration is finding it difficult to protect the population of Sumatran tigers because the tropical forests in Aceh have become barren, and the reforestation program, underway for seven years, has yet to produce encouraging results.
This situation threatens the ecosystem Suprayogi said, adding, "The key to conserving the population of tigers is maintaining the environment and arousing the people's sense of reverence and pride in the protected animals".
Anticipating further episodes of man meeting beast, the local NRCC has deployed task forces to areas prone to such incidents, he said.
The task forces are in charge of intercepting tigers before they reach villages or grazing cattle, and to assess the possible damages and losses due to tigers.
They also have the responsibility of seeking causes of the boarderline extinction of tigers.
The local NRCC has also enlisted the help of a tiger tamer, the only one in West Aceh, who reportedly uses magic powers to catch tigers.
The center usually returns captured tigers to their habitat but far away from settlement areas, releasing them in the Gunung Leuser National Park in Southeast Aceh.