Six Sumatran tigers die in reservation
JAKARTA (JP): Conservancy activists in Lampung sounded the alarm on Saturday over the disclosure that six rare Sumatran tigers had died in the Way Kambas forest reserve over the past three years, Antara news agency reported.
Activists from the Way Kambas Care Network believe the tigers were intentionally killed. Activist Verry Iwan said the killings could continue unless immediate action was taken.
Experts estimate there are 500 tigers left in Indonesia, of which 100 live outside conservation areas. Besides the Sumatran tiger, there are also the Javan tigers, which were thought to be extinct since 1938. However, a number of reports of sightings of Javan tigers surfaced in June. The number of tigers worldwide is currently estimated at around 5,000.
Verry said the deaths of the tigers in the national park could be related to the activity of the Sumatran Tiger Project (STP) there.
Information regarding the presence of the tigers was dispatched through STP and "it lured poachers to kill and sell the tigers", Verry said, admitting that his group still needed to further examine the case.
He also questioned whether the project had achieved its stated goals. The project is managed by the Bogor-based Indonesian Safari Park in cooperation with foreign agencies, and funded by international donors
Sumatran tigers in the 125,000-hectare national park have previously been relatively undisturbed and the report of the six deaths sparked concern, Verry said.
"Although the report revealed six deaths, there could have been more," Verry said.
The STP research team announced several times dozens of Sumatran tigers lived in the national park, using photographs taken by automatic infrared cameras as evidence of their claim.
Similar results were obtained from research conducted in the 350,000-hectare Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in West Lampung, Tanggamus and South Bengkulu.
It was also confirmed that in the forests of Sumatra, the number of tigers was declining due to loss of habitat and the threat of poachers.
The Way Kambas National Park also hosted a project to conserve the Sumatran two-horned rhinoceros, called the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary project. The project, together with a plan to attract ecotourists to the national park, was protested by environmental activists. (05)