Endangered SumatraTigers.

The Sumatra Tiger is an endangered species whereby only around 400 of them left in the wild forests, and the number is decreasing due to hunting by men and deforestation.

Kompas reported that last Thursday one of the hunters i.e.Wiryo (92) was caught by the natural conservation agency in Riau Province, Island of Sumatra while sailing on a traditional wooden boat in a river carrying the Skin, Skulls and 8.3 Kilogram of Bones of a Sumatra Tiger.

 

The man said that he has been making money by hunting tiger since he was 17 years old in Java Island, before he transmigrated to Riau, Sumatra in 1960 where he killed 50 Sumatera Tigers, and sold the parts in Singapore.

The man is just one out of the hundreds or perhaps thousands of men who hunted the endangered Sumatra Tigers either for making money or just for fun. If there is no serious efforts to prevent hunting, stop deforestration, and enforce the laws, those Tigers could one day become part of history.

Photo: Courtesy of Kompas.

Keeping Tigers as Pets

The Department of Forestry has planned to sell Endangered Sumatra Tigers to rich people at the price of Rp 1 Billion a couple. And endangered animals lovers have stated their protests.

Apparently, there are people who have actually kept Tigers as pets at their own homes for many years. Please find below a related report in The Jakarta Globe.

 

Bengal tigers cool off in water at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand. (EPA Photo)

Man With Five Tigers in His Home Claims They Came From Taman Safari

Five endangered tigers, including three cubs, have been discovered in the apparently illegal possession of a man with a long-standing penchant for keeping tigers in the great concrete wilds of Tangerang.

A possible link between the man, Kusbanu Hadisumarto, the father of minor celebrity actress Unique Priscilla, and the Taman Safari Indonesia wildlife park has prompted calls for an investigation of the park by the Ministry of Forestry.

Awriya Ibrahim, director of forest protection at the ministry, said Friday that following a tipoff, two adult tigers and three cubs were found Thursday.

He said the ministry would conduct DNA tests to determine if the animals were endangered Bengali tigers, as claimed by Kusbanu, or critically endangered Sumatran tigers.

Regardless, Awriya said, it was still illegal to posses either species without proper documentation.

“If they are Sumatran tigers then we can use the 1990 Law on Conservation [to prosecute] but if they are Bengalis then we need to use international law,” he said.

Under the 1990 Law on Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation, those found to be transferring protected animals within Indonesia or abroad face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of Rp 100 million ($8,500).

Kusbanu told local media that the tigers were from Taman Safari, though the respected conservation park denied the claims. It did acknowledge previously lending Kusbanu a Bengali tiger for breeding purposes.

Irma Hermawati, coordinator of the Wildlife Advocacy Institution, said the ministry should impose strict sanctions on Taman Safari should Kusbanu be found guilty of transferring any animal without permission.

“Even if they are Bengalis, they are still listed as an endangered species based on CITES [the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species] so anyone who would want them would need permits from CITES and the host country,” Irma said.

Taman Safari director Tony Sumampau told the Jakarta Globe that in October 1996, Kusbanu asked the park to check on the health of his animals and they discovered that he had a Sumatran tiger and a number of Bengali tigers, “which are not protected.”

Tony said the Taman personnel asked Kusbanu to hand over the Sumatran tiger to the park for conservation and protection.

“Kus finally agreed in exchange for a Bengal tiger from Taman Safari as a mating partner for the ones he had,” Tony said, adding that Taman Safari agreed to temporarily move a Bengali tiger to Kusbanu’s private residence in September 1997.

The permit was extended for another six months in 1998 and the last tiger was returned in 2006, he said.

“We did this only for the sake of saving the Sumatran tiger,” he said, adding that Kusbanu’s aides took the animal to the park and the process was documented.

The ministry’s plans to confiscate the animals on Friday, however, had to be delayed. They will “stay the night” at Kusbanu’s home because the government lacks the facilities to both house and feed the five tigers.

Sumatera Tiger Poaching

The total number of Sumatera Tigers has been declining rapidly year after year mainly because of poaching by hunters, as reported by Kompas.

Sumatran Tigers Hunting to Extinction Still Goes on

Wednesday, 30 December 2009 | 5:10 AM

BENGKULU, KOMPAS.com - Poachers still continue to hunt the remaining Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris) in the Bengkulu forest, conservationist Radius Nursidi of the Profauna nature conservation organization said. "Based on its survey in March, Profauna found at least 12 tiger traps in the Seblat Elephant Conservation Center (PKG) in North Bengkulu," Radius said here on Tuesday.

He said that Profauna conducted the survey only in one area, namely around the PKG forest park where it found at least 12 tiger traps." he said. Poachers also hunt elephants in the Seblat forest park, he said.

Due to the illegal hunting of elephants and tigers in the Seblat PKG forest park in Putri Hijau subdistrict, North Bengkulu, the population of the protected species was increasingly threatened.

"Since 2004, Profauna has recorded that at least eight elephants have been killed," he said. Tiger and elephant poaching in the Bengkulu forest was a serious threat to the population of the protected animals, he said.

Stealing Tiger's Fur from a Zoo

The Sumatra Tigers are on the brink of extinction because of rapid deforestation, poaching and clashes with humans.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the numbers of Sumatra Tigers have decreased very rapidly from around 1,000 in the 1970s to less than 400 today.

Due to which facts, I always thought that the best place for endangered animals like those Tigers would be a Zoo where they can live and breed more peacefully under close supervision.

However, I now realize that my perception about the Zoo has been wrong, that was after I read the news about the killing of a female Sumatra Tiger at a Zoo in Jambi Province at the Indonesian Island of Sumatra, stolen the Tiger's Fur & Bones, leaving behind only the intestines.

From TV news reports, I learned that the killers came to the Zoo and gave the Tiger a piece of poisoned Meat, after that they cut it and took away the skin and bones, and about the possibility of involvement of the guard of the Zoo.

For details on the above, please click here and here.

It is very sad to know that anyone would ever want to kill the endangered Tiger. And the sadest thing is that the killing was done at a Zoo where the Tiger is supposed to be safely guarded by authorized security officers.