Sumatran tiger on the prowl toward extinction

Sumatran tiger on the prowl toward extinction

By Emma Cameron

JAKARTA (JP): In the last two years, 66 Sumatran tigers have
been found ready for illegal sale in markets in Sumatra by the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

It is the equivalent of 20 percent of the tiger population of
the South and Central areas of Sumatra. Sixty-six dead or
captured tigers may not sound like a huge amount, but the number
of Sumatran tigers which have died in the last 30 years, mainly
due to poachers, is devastating in an already severely decimated
population.

"If nothing is done about the problem, "within 10 to 15 years
the wild population of tigers will be gone", said Chairul Saleh,
senior project officer at WWF.

The research was conducted throughout Sumatra, excluding North
Sumatra and Aceh. The WWF worked in conjunction with TRAFFIC
Southeast Asia. The tigers were found in West Sumatra (nine),
Jambi (five), Riau (13), Bengkulu (nine) and Lampung (30).
Another 37 were found in national parks.

The Sumatran tiger is the only surviving subspecies of tiger
in Indonesia (the smaller Bali tiger disappeared in the late
1970s; the Javan tiger also is probably gone, although a handful
may live on in an East Java national park).

Results from surveys from 1972 to 1975 and one in 1978 found
there were 1000 Sumatran tigers living in eight provinces --
Aceh, North Sumatra Utara, Riau, West Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu
and Lampung. However, by 1992 the number was down to 400 in seven
regions in Sumatra -- in the national parks of Gunung Leuser,
Kerinci Seblat, Berbak, Bukit Barisan South and Way Kamba, as
well as the nature preserves of Kerumutan and Rimbang nature
preserves.

The Sumatran tiger, as one of the world's most gravely
endangered mammals, is part of an international breeding program.

Wild Sumatran tigers are killed to be used illegally as
ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. From 1970 to 1993,
South Korea had knowledge of 3,994 kilograms of tiger bone
imported from Indonesia.

With this total, Indonesia was the country with the highest
export rate (44.5 percent) compared to 11 other countries. In
documents from the immigration office in Taiwan in 1984,
Indonesia exported as much as 100 kilograms of tiger bone to
other countries.

There are other uses of Sumatran tigers and the products are
not only exported. In Indonesia tiger products such as the skin,
teeth, claws and whiskers are sold.

Sumatran tiger teeth normally sell in Jakarta for between Rp
300,000 to Rp 500,000 per tooth. Tigers are also stuffed and sold
as ornaments for homes.

The government has acknowledged the report by the WWF on the
monitoring of wildlife trade and expressed its concern. However,
it also conceded its limitations in pursuing the problem.

WWF's executive director Agus Purnomo acknowledged that
poaching was a difficult activity to stop because "even though we
have a list of names of hunters and taxidermists, if we arrest
them new ones will simply take their place".

WWF believes the most effective approach is one of public
awareness. With last week's discovery of a live tiger kept as a
pet in Jakarta, the practices of keeping wild animals in cages,
taxidermy and poaching of endangered species are all things that
WWF believes need to be condemned in Indonesian society.

Although many people buy animals such as tigers at markets
because they feel sorry for them, it does not provide a solution
to the larger problem. "The younger generation needs to look down
on keeping wild animals as pets," Purnomo said. In the recent
live tiger case, there was no prosecution under an agreement that
the tiger would be placed in a wildlife sanctuary.

The WWF, as with all organizations that rely on donations to
do their work, has found its plans to fight wildlife poaching
hampered by the recent economic crisis.

"People don't remember it much. Tigers when they're small are
cute but the threat to life is not widely known," Purnomo said.

Although Purnomo understands that people's priorities are
employment and income, he believes the moves of some regions of
Indonesia toward independence are due in a large part to the
environment. "Many regional conflicts are caused over national
resources and environmental degradation."

WWF attempted to use the recent general election as an
awareness catalyst for both the public and the politicians
however support is generally of an unconstructive kind,
expressions of sympathy with no concrete assistance.

At the moment the Sumatran tiger is not only suffering from
the dangers of poaching but from a degradation of natural
habitat. A large number of forest fires have occurred in the
area, pushing the tigers out of their habitat. Loss of habitat
was the main threat for the Sumatran tiger in the 1980s, but
poachers have now taken over as the number one threat. There are
plans to make forestry maps to determine the extent of the damage
to tiger habitats.

With half of the poaching occurring in national parks, the
need for national parks to be fully resourced is vital.

Perhaps the most sobering thought is that the 66 tigers found
during the monitoring were simply the verified ones; the number
of tigers ready to be sold at markets is estimated to be much
greater.