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Endangered Sumatran tiger found dead, ensnared in Riau
A pig carcass was found near the snare, indicating that the tiger might have been targeted by poachers, authorities said.
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A male Sumatran tiger was found dead in a conversation area in Siak regency, Riau, with its leg caught in a snare on Monday. Authorities say it may have been a target of poaching. (BKSDA Riau/BKSDA Riau)
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critically endangered Sumatran tiger was found dead in a conservation area in the Siak administrative region of Riau on Monday with one of its legs caught in a wire trap.
The male tiger's carcass was first discovered by a resident on his way to go fishing near Minas Barat village on Monday morning. He reported the discovery to local authorities who then conveyed the message to the Riau Natural Resources Conversation Agency (BKSDA).
At about 5 p.m. on the same day, the BKSDA dispatched a team to the site to remove the deceased tiger.
"Its front right leg, caught in the snare, was seriously injured. The open wound was very deep, resulting in infection," BKSDA head Suharyono said on Tuesday.
The team moved the tiger's body to its headquarters in the provincial capital of Pekanbaru to conduct an autopsy.
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"Based on the tiger's condition, it might have been dead for about a week as a result of dehydration," Suharyono said.
A pig carcass was found near snare, indicating that the tiger might have been targeted by poachers, he said.
The Sumatran tiger, the only surviving species of the Sunda Islands tigers that once included the now-extinct Bali tiger and Javan tiger, has been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 2008.
An estimate from the Environment and Forestry Ministry puts the wild Sumatran tiger population as of December 2018 at no more than 600 because of a loss of habitat and poaching. (vny)
