Tigers and Humans Make Deadly Neighbors in Sumatra

Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 17 Mar 10;

With tigers living in ever-closer proximity to humans due to the continued destruction of their forest habitat, the number of reported attacks involving the big cats has risen steadily in recent years.

Last year alone, conflicts between humans and tigers in Sumatra claimed nine lives, with four tigers being slaughtered to help protect villagers. With the Sumatran tiger on the brink of extinction, with only some 300 left in the wild, it is a trend that worries wildlife experts.

“The conflict has escalated because people and tigers can’t live in harmony, meaning that either people have entered the tigers’ territory or the tigers have left their areas and roamed into nearby villages,” said Ligaya Tumbelaka, a veterinarian at Taman Safari Indonesia who monitors Sumatran tiger numbers in the wild.

She said tigers were not man-eaters and would only attack humans for two reasons: because they felt threatened by people trespassing in their territory, or they were too old to hunt for prey and instead wandered into a village in search of food.

Hadi S Alikodra, a wildlife expert at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), said tigers were solitary and nomadic animals, and their movements were not limited by human boundaries.

“Mostly they can be found in peatland areas and national parks, but they also roam outside those areas, which have now been turned into palm oil plantations, industrial forests or even villages,” said Hadi, who is also director of species conservation at WWF Indonesia.

“Tigers have their own home ranges, which unfortunately have in many cases been developed for other uses. So when their home ranges have been taken over by humans, conflicts between them are inevitable.”

Can There Be Peace?

Hadi said he believed human-tiger conflicts would continue to escalate because the country still had few pro-conservation policies to protect the natural habitat of the big cats.

“Our policies still focus on economic benefits,” he said.

“Forests keep being developed in areas that are supposed to be tiger corridors, people keep on building their houses in areas with tiger populations and deforestation continues at a high rate. These tigers are facing pressure from all sides — not to mention from illegal poachers.”

Hadi said if this situation continued, the Sumatran tiger would soon face the same fate as Indonesia’s two other tiger species, the Balinese and Javan tigers, which were driven to extinction in the 1930s and 1980s, respectively.

The Sumatran tiger is one of only five remaining tiger species in the world, and is also the most endangered.

But the Ministry of Forestry’s director general for forest protection and nature conservation said the government had made significant progress in securing the Sumatran tiger population.

Darori said special enclaves designated for tiger populations had been established in six national parks across Sumatra in order to separate the animals from humans.

“So don’t go roaming around there. That’s their area, people should respect that,” he said, citing an incident last week at a national park in Jambi where a tiger attacked a villager. “If you trespass, you will get attacked. Don’t blame it on the tigers.”

The special tiger enclaves at Tesso Nilo, Bukit Barisan Selatan, Way Kambas, Gunung Leuser, Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Tiga Puluh national parks are off-limits to people.

Finding a Way Forward

Ligaya, from Taman Safari, said humans were largely responsible for the Sumatran tigers’ decline, and should now take responsibility to ensure its survival.

“Human interests are important but these tigers should also be given the space to live,” she said.

Hadi said in light of recent tiger attacks, security should be stepped up at national parks in order to ensure tiger habitats were not encroached upon and tigers did not roam into areas settled by humans.

“The central government needs to be more aggressive in approaching local governments to help them, especially in trying to implement best management practices in conservation areas,” he said.

He added that conflict-management measures, such as financial compensation for tiger attacks, should also be brought in to placate villagers and stop them from hunting tigers.