Medan, N Sumatra (ANTARA) - The North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency has said its wildlife team has captured a Sumatran tiger involved in a conflict with residents of Padang Lawas district for over a month.
The tiger was captured on December 16, 2021 after it entered a trap that the wildlife team members had set up in Siundol Julu village, Sosopan sub-district, the agency's head, Irzal Azhar, informed.
The agency's personnel had set up two more traps in Hutabargot and Pangaranbira Jaek villages on November 28 and November 30, he said in a statement that ANTARA received here on Friday.
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Two dogs and several chickens belonging to residents of Siundol Julu village had been found dead on December 13–14, he added.
The wildlife team's members had discovered the tiger's footprints near the dead animals, Azhar said, adding that the endangered wild animal was later found inside a trap set up at Siundol Julu.
The agency's personnel have evacuated the tiger to Barumun Nagari Wildlife Sanctuary (BNSW) in Batu Nanggar village, Batang Toru sub-district, Padang Lawas district, North Sumatra, for medical care, he said.
The tiger will be released back into its natural habitat after being rehabilitated there, he added.
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Human-tiger conflicts in the Indonesian island of Sumatra remain a serious problem.
On August 26, 2021, for instance, three Sumatran tigers (Pantera Tigris Sumatrae) were found dead after getting caught in wild boar traps that a poacher had reportedly set in Ie Buboh village, Meukek sub-district, South Aceh district, Aceh province.
The traps the Sumatran tigers—a 10-year-old female and two 10-month-old cubs—were found dead in had been set inside a conservation area.
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The poacher suspected to be behind their deaths may have come from outside South Aceh, officials said.
ANTARA has earlier reported that Sumatran tigers (Pantera Tigris Sumatrae) are the only surviving tiger species in Indonesia. The country has already lost two sub-species of tigers to extinction: the Bali tiger that became extinct in 1937 and the Javan tiger, which went extinct in the 1970s.
Sumatran tigers, the smallest of all tigers, are currently a critically endangered species only found on Sumatra Island, Indonesia’s second-largest island.
The tigers are on the brink of extinction owing to deforestation, poaching, and conflicts between wild animals and local people owing to their dwindling habitats, conservationists have said.
The exact number of Sumatran tigers left in the wild is ambiguous, though the latest estimates range from under 300 to possibly 500 at 27 locations, including in Kerinci Seblat National Park, Tesso Nilo Park, and Gunung Leuser National Park.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), their numbers have dwindled from about one thousand in the 1970s.
A 2009 report by the forestry ministry pointed to conflict with humans as the biggest threat to conservation efforts. The report cited that on average, 5 to 10 Sumatran tigers have been killed each year since 1998.
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