Rare tiger killed, body stolen from Indonesian zoo

Associated Press 24 Aug 09;

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A group of thieves killed an endangered tiger in an Indonesian zoo and stole most of its body, zoo officials said Sunday, a theft police suspect was motivated by the animal's valuable fur and bones.

The remains of the female Sumatran tiger were found by staff Saturday at the Taman Rimba Zoo in Jambi province on Sumatra island, said zoo director Adrianis, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

"It was sadistic," Adrianis said of the attack. "The killers left only its intestines in the cage."

Posma Lubis, lead detective for the Jambi police department, said they were searching for the perpetrators.

It was unclear how the thieves broke into the zoo or how many were involved.

British-based international wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said in a 2008 report that it found tiger bones, claws, skins and whiskers being sold openly in eight cities on Indonesia's Sumatra island in 2006, despite tough laws banning such trade.

The group estimated that 23 tigers had been killed to supply the parts found for sale in souvenir, Chinese medicine and jewelry stores.

Sumatran tigers are on the brink of extinction because of rapid deforestation, poaching and clashes with humans. Their numbers have dwindled to about 250 from about 1,000 in the 1970s, according to the Washington D.C.-based World Wildlife Fund.

Authorities Say Poachers Who Killed Tiger at Jambi Zoo Were Professionals
Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 23 Aug 09

The killing of a rare Sumatran tiger at Jambi’s Taman Rimbo Zoo over the weekend will be thoroughly investigated, authorities said on Sunday.

Sheila, who had been the only Sumatran tiger remaining at the zoo, was killed and skinned on zoo grounds after being drugged by poachers early on Saturday, leaving virtually nothing behind except the innards and a few ribs of the animal, which is critically endangered in the wild.

“There is no doubt that the killers were professionals because they did their job very cleanly, taking off the skin in the enclosure rather than dragging the 100-kilogram animal out, which could have attracted attention,” said Didy Wurdjanto, the head of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center.

Didy said the killers were also well aware of the tiger’s worth on the black market, with body parts such as the animal’s bones in high demand for use in traditional local and Chinese remedies as a pain killer or aphrodisiac. Even the blood was thought to have been collected in plastic bags to be sold.

“They were skillful because if there was one scratch on the skin, it wouldn’t be worth much,” he said, adding that the skin could fetch between Rp 35 million ($3,500) and Rp 45 million on the black market.

Authorities suspect the killers entered the zoo by climbing through a gutter running past its lightly guarded main gate and went to the tiger enclosure located just 10 to 15 meters from the main road.

They are then though to have climbed onto the roof of the enclosure, from where they threw in some poisoned bait.

Didy said the police had yet to determine the kind of poison used to kill the animal.

He said the incident was an insult to Jambi residents because Sheila, who was donated by Jakarta’s Ragunan Zoo in 1992, was the centerpiece of the zoo’s conservation education efforts.

“I just can’t bear the thought that this could be a new trend in the illegal wildlife trade, [that poachers] are now going after tame tigers in zoos rather than in forests,” Didy said. “The demand for tigers is increasing and the price is getting higher because there are so few left.”

Adrianis, the head of Taman Rimbo Zoo, said that despite the lack of security, zoo officials never considered the tiger to be in any danger.

“Apart from her keepers, there were obviously not many people wanting to go near the tiger, and even the police hesitated about going near the cage,” she said.

Adrianis refused to speculate on whether zoo staff could have been involved in the crime. “We just hope that the police can catch these people because tigers are a national asset.”

Tiger killed in Jambi zoo
The Jakarta Post 22 Aug 09;

Police are questioning a veterinarian and five workers of the Taman Rimbo zoo in the Jambi capital of Jambi after its Sumatran tiger was killed early on Saturday.

Detectives suspected the thieves poisoned the female tiger, Sheila, and slaughtered her in the wee hours when the zoo was almost unguarded. Worse, the zoo is poorly illuminated in the evening.

The police found remnants of meat bait that contained anesthetics and intestinal parts of the protected animal in her cage.

Head of the provincial natural resources conservation agency Didy Wurjanto said the cage had been left unlocked to allow zoo workers to feed the tiger, which had settled in the zoo for 20 years since its birth at Ragunan zoo in Jakarta.

“The thieves took the tiger’s skin and some body parts that they could sell,” Didy told kompas.com.

Jambi police detective Adj. Comr. Posma Lubis said the five people were questioned as witnesses. He said the police had not yet found evidence of involvement of insiders in the case.

“But a tiger will not attack people close to it,” he said.

The Sumatran tiger faces extinction due to uncontrolled hunting.

Tiger Death Sees Calls for Action on Zoos
Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 25 Aug 09;

Environmentalist urged the government on Tuesday to tackle wildlife crime after a female Sumatran tiger was slaughtered in a zoo in Jambi last weekend.

Sheila, the only Sumatran tiger remaining at the Taman Rimbo Zoo, was killed and skinned on zoo grounds after being drugged by poachers early on Saturday, leaving virtually nothing behind except the innards and a few ribs of the animal, which is critically endangered in the wild.

Authorities suspect the killers entered the zoo by climbing through a gutter running past its lightly guarded main gate to the tiger enclosure located just 10 meters from the main road.

They are then thought to have climbed onto the roof of the enclosure, from where they threw in a poisoned bait.

“The skinned and stolen tiger from the Jambi zoo is just another incident in a long list of the wildlife crimes in zoos. We are strongly against such crimes, especially when they happen in zoos,” said Radius Nursidi, a campaign officer for ProFauna, a wildlife protection organization.

Nursidi said the government needed to have a moratorium on issuing permits for any new Indonesian zoo or safari park, and instead focus on assisting and monitoring the present facilities.

“It seems that there are no ‘safe places’ for the endangered Sumatran tigers. In the wild, tigers are still being hunted for illegal wildlife trade and now tigers in zoos are threatened by well-organized criminals,” he said, adding that the latest incident in Jambi showed a lack of security by the zoo’s authorities.

Data from ProFauna Indonesia shows that two other tigers have died suspiciously in zoos over the past four months. One of them, a male tiger also belonging to the Taman Rimbo Zoo, died last February but its remains were never verified by the public. The second tiger, a female, died in a Surabaya zoo in July.

Profauna recently managed to help law enforcement officers to expose four people involved in the wildlife trade. They are alleged to have close connections with employees from various zoos in Jakarta and Surabaya.

Tiger killing and theft plotted in jail
Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post 2 Sep 09;

Jambi Police are still searching for two men accused of masterminding the killing and theft of a Sumatran tiger from its cage at the Taman Rimba Jambi Zoo on Aug. 22, following the arrest of a suspect.

Syamsuddin alias Udin Bolu, who was arrested last week, said Iwan and Mukmin were the brains behind the crime.

“We planned the theft and killing when we were serving our jail sentences. The plan was discussed between May and June this year,” said Udin, who has been in prison six times for various criminal cases.

Udin said he accepted Iwan’s request for assistance due to their childhood friendship and to pay back Iwan’s donation aid. For his role, Udin was promised to receive Rp 18 million, Rp 8 million of which was transferred in advance.

Udin said Iwan was only taking orders from a businessman living in the South Sumatra capital of Palembang.

The thieves stole the skin and flesh of a 25-year-old tiger called Sheila, the remaining tiger at the zoo, after feeding it with poisoned bait.