Jambi conservation center captures man-eating tiger
Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post, Jambi | Fri, 02/13/2009 3:58 PM
Conservationists in Jambi Wednesday were able to capture a tiger that has been terrifying residents in Sungaigelam district in Muarojambi regency over the past two weeks.
The animal is now being kept temporarily at the office of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA).
BKSDA team leader Nurazman said the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) was caught in one of two 3-meter long and 1.5-meter wide traps the group had set baited with a goat and a dog. The tiger apparently preferred the goat, as that was the trap that ensnared him.
"The tiger devoured the goat then couldn't escape," said Nurazman.
The traps were placed in the plantation of PT Muaro Kahirupan Indonesia in Sungaigelam village.
The tiger is an adult female standing one-meter tall and measuring two meters in length.
It was finally caught after the trap had been in place for eight days.
Based on tracks found around the site and images caught on a camera monitoring the location, BKSDA said is was the same tiger which people had been looking for because the area is a tiger habitat.
BKSDA head Didy Wurjanto said the Conservation Center would immediately examine the tiger to determine whether it was suffering from distress or illness, and would later ask tiger experts to examine it.
She would be kept at the Jambi Zoo until she could be returned to her habitat in the Berbak National Park, he said.
Didy added conflicts between humans and tigers could not be totally blamed on the tigers because humans have been encroaching on their habitat for some time.
"The tigers have been disturbed by the presence of humans in their surroundings, especially while they are nursing and when poachers take their young," Didy said.
"Instinctively they keep looking for their offspring because they want them back."
The BKSDA is continuing to look for the poachers. Didy has called on the poachers to return the cubs.
The adult tiger mauled four residents in the past two weeks, killing three. The fourth survived despite injuries.
