Tigers habitat is dwindling

JAKARTA: A Sumatran tiger ate three people in West Lampung in recent weeks because the tigers' habitat is shrinking, a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) expert has said.

"The dwindling size of their natural habitat has caused the Sumatran tigers to go on a rampage," WWF tiger expert Ron Lilley told Antara here Tuesday.

The Lampung natural resources conservation center said Monday that it was trying to catch the Sumatran tiger that had killed three people and injured three others in Sumberjaya subdistrict between June 7 and 20.

Lilley said the tiger's habitat had been converted into plantations or human settlements which had prompted the animal to retaliate by attacking people.

He said a similar thing had happened in recent years in Bengkulu province, where Sumatran elephants had trampled on villages and plantations.

Lilley said the WWF was cooperating with the Directorate General for Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHPA) to stop smuggling of tiger bones out of Indonesia.

"The WWF and the PHPA are determined to combat the trade of tiger bones," he said.

Indonesian tigers' bones are sold in black markets in China, South Korea and the United States to make traditional medicine for diseases.

Lilley said the international trade of tiger bones was threatening the survival of Indonesian tigers, which have been declared an endangered species.

There are only an estimated 500 Sumatran tigers left, 100 of these live outside conservation areas. Javanese and Balinese tigers have been extinct for decades. (swe)