Activists against Indonesia's tiger adoption program

Oyos Saroso H.N, The Jakarta Post 29 Jan 10;

Environmental activists have strongly criticized the government’s plan to allow Sumatran tigers to be adopted by wealthy citizens and the private sector.

The activists said the adoption plan, which they suspected as being politically motivated, was not the best solution to save the animal and could escalate poaching.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Sumatra region campaign manager, Mukri Friatna, said that in line with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s first 100-day program, all the ministers in the new cabinet were trying to improve their image.

“That’s the political motive behind the tiger adoption program. We want to emphasize that Walhi opposes the plan since it is the wrong way to save the tiger,” he said.

“If we wish to save the Sumatran tiger, the government should be serious in stopping illegal logging and poaching, not issuing tiger adoption permits.”

On the sidelines of the National Nature Conservation Day event at the presidential palace in Jakarta on Jan. 22, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his office was studying plans to issue tiger adoption licenses to wealthy Indonesian citizens and corporations.

Zulkifli said the ministry has so far been successful in protecting the Bali starling, which was earlier on the verge of extinction, by allowing residents to help breed the bird through a program.

In the program, the bird breeders are later obliged to hand over one of three hatchlings to be later released to their original habitat.

A similar method will be used to save the Sumatran tiger.

Under the plan, to be able to adopt the rare and protected animals, the adoptive parents must pay US$100,000 or Rp 950 million as collateral.

They must also provide enclosures and prepare an area spanning 60,000 square meters and sign an agreement that the tigers remain as state property and their condition and presence can be monitored by the state at any moment.

The tiger adoption program will follow the Sumatran tiger conservation program at the Tambling Nature Wildlife Conservation (TNWC) in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (TNBBS) in West Lampung.

In the last two years, TNWC had released four tigers from Aceh and one from Jambi, which were trapped by residents for attacking humans.

Businessman Tomy Winata set up the TNWC in 2003. It is managed by PT Adiniaga Kreasindo, Winata’s subsidiary company. Winata had initially obtained a concession permit to manage tens of thousands of hectares of forest in TNBBS. He currently holds a forest concession area for tiger conservation spanning 45,000 hectares.

Mukri said the tiger adoption permits could be misused for the global carbon trade if the plan was not reviewed carefully.

“A Sumatran tiger needs a habitat spanning 20 square kilometers. A person adopting a tiger could request a concession area of 20 square kilometers, meaning the forest would be divided into lots, and only those who were rich could adopt the tigers,” he said.

The tiger population has dropped to more than 50 percent within the period of 20 years, from more than 1,000 in the 1970s to only around 500 left remaining in the 1990s. Its number is estimated at between 200 and 400 now.

In the period between 1985 and 1997, Sumatra had lost 60 percent of its low-plain forests, considered the best habitat for Sumatran tigers and other wildlife species.