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Storytelling could save Sumatran tiger
The Sumatran tiger conservation group, Forum Harimau Kita (Our Tiger Forum), has proven that storytelling could effectively raise public awareness of the needs of the endangered species
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T
he Sumatran tiger conservation group, Forum Harimau Kita (Our Tiger Forum), has proven that storytelling could effectively raise public awareness of the needs of the endangered species.
The practice is usually used to educate children in various areas in West Sumatra about the urgency of Sumatran tiger conservation, as the species is under critical threat of extinction because of rampant poaching, human-animal conflicts and forest conversion, among other things.
"We design the form the education takes based on age. For children, we usually use local folk tales about tigers to convey our message," Erlinda Kartika from Forum Harimau Kita told The Jakarta Post in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday.
The West Sumatran tale about the tiger concerned a Minangkabau prince who made a pact with the Tiger King so that the tiger would guard the human as long as the human kept the tiger's habitat secure.
"And the kids can tell their parents about it," she said.
She claimed that the organization has visited elementary schools and junior high schools in 20 villages in West Sumatra along with volunteers from the TigerHeart movement.
For older people, she usually asks them to record their peers' experiences encountering tigers, to spark discussion amongst themselves.
The effort has been successful, she claimed, as the people in the villages would start talking about the tigers after that.
The Sumatran tiger population across Sumatra was estimated at between 400 and 500.
Recently, a Sumatran tiger had been found dead in a wire trap that had been laid by a farmer in Pelangai Gadang village, Pesisir Selatan regency, West Sumatra. (fsu)(+++)
