I

n May, a male Sumatran tiger named Monang injured its left leg when he was accidentally caught in a wild boar trap placed by residents of Dolok Parmonongan in Simalungun regency, North Sumatra province.

Monang, one of the few Sumatran tigers left on the island, is now recovering from his injury at the Barumun Wildlife Sanctuary in South Tapanuli.

On Sunday, while opening a World Tiger Day celebration, the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) announced its plan to pair Monang with Gadis, a female Sumatran tiger who was also injured by a wild boar trap, to help restore their species.

World Tiger Day is commemorated each year on July 29.

Head of BKSDA North Sumatra Hotmauli Sianturi said that both tigers were disabled because of their injuries, but the pair is expected to still be able to help maintain the province’s tiger population.

“Both are currently in the sanctuary, but located in different places,” Hotmauli told The Jakarta Post after opening the 2017 Global Tiger Day event in Medan, the provincial capital, on Sunday.

She said that the female tiger, 5-year-old Gadis, had to have one of her feet amputated because of the incident with a boar trap, which occurred in Madinding Batu subdistrict, Mandailing Natal regency, two years ago.

“They both will be united in the near future so they can mate and breed normally,” said Hotmauli, adding that her team was currently preparing for the occasion and expressed hope for a successful mating.

Monang and Gadis would be the first disabled Sumatran tigers to be mated so far.

Hotmauli praised the plan, calling it a positive move in helping to preserve the population of the species, which is already on the brink of extinction, especially following the deaths of three of tigers in the last year from poisoning and hunting.

“This is a threat to the preservation of Sumatran tigers. Their population continues to decrease because [they are] being poisoned or illegally killed by humans,” Hotmauli explained.

She expressed hope that Global Tiger Day would also raise enough public awareness that Indonesians would no longer poach Sumatran tigers.

Data from the Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia Program (WCSIP) shows that only 400 to 600 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild.

Head of the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) rehabilitation center, Misran, who was also present at the Global Tiger Day celebration, blamed the decrease in population on illegal poaching.

Misran said the number of Sumatran tigers living in the national park, as recorded by cameras in the area for the last three months, was between 150 and 200.

The figure, he said, was far below that of a few years before.

“As long as poaching still [occurs] and illegal logging activities continue to disturb the [Sumatran] tiger’s habitat, its population will continue to decrease,” Misran said.