'Singapore main market for Sumatran tigers'
Haidir Anwar Tanjung The Jakarta Post Pekanbaru, Riau
Environmentalists say the Sumatran tiger (Panthera Tigris Sumatrae) is on the brink of extinction, and accused Singapore of being the main market for tigers smuggled from Indonesia.
Chaerul Saleh, a senior species officer with the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF), said the illicit trade in tigers must be stopped immediately, otherwise the rare animal could soon disappear from Indonesia.
He said an investigation by his organization showed that the illicit trade in Sumatran tigers and their body parts was flourishing in the neighboring country.
"The bones of Sumatran tigers cost thousands of dollars per kilogram in Singapore," Chairul told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
He said the bones were generally used as ingredients for traditional Chinese drugs, widely sold in many stores in Singapore.
According to Chaerul, the high price of tiger bones had prompted hunters from the Southeast Asia region to step up their persecution of the Sumatran tiger.
The hunters transported their catches -- dead or alive -- to Dumai and Batam ports in Riau province before shipping them to Singapore, he added.
A spokesman for the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta could not comment on the accusation, saying he had to study the report.
Chaerul urged the Indonesian and Singapore authorities to take action to stop the illicit trade in Sumatran tigers in order to prevent them from becoming extinct within 10 years.
He said rampant illegal logging in Sumatra's forests could also cause the extinction of tigers, unless the Indonesian government took serious action to stop it.
The government should enforce the law and send those involved in illegal logging and the tiger trade to jail, he added.
Illegal logging has shrunk the habitat of Sumatran tigers and other rare animals, which made them easy targets for hunters, he said.
He stressed that the extinction of the Sumatran tiger would be a big loss for Indonesia as similar tiger species had already become extinct on Java and Bali islands.
Chaerul said that 1999 data showed there were only between 400 and 500 Sumatran tigers living in protected forests across Sumatra, including Kerumutan and Merbuk in Riau; Bukit Leuser in Aceh; Kerinci Seblat in Jambi; and Sei Kambas in Lampung.
Each year, about 50 tigers were killed due to various reasons, mainly illegal hunting, he said, adding that based on the available data, at least 115 Sumatran tigers had been hunted down between 1998 and 2000.
Separately, John Kennedy, the Natural Resources and Conservation director of the Riau administration, said the Dumai municipality administration was to set aside 60,000 hectares of land in the nearby Senepis forest as a reserve for the Sumatran tiger.
Should the plan be realized, it would be the first place specifically earmarked for tiger conservation in Indonesia, he said.
"We have proposed to the Ministry of Forestry that the forest be declared a tiger conservation zone," Kennedy added.