Sumatran tiger population to increase in 2014

Antara 1 Aug 10;

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - The population of the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris Sumatrae) is expected to increase by 20 percent by 2014, the Bengkulu Natural Resources Conservation Board (BKSDA) Chief Andi Basrul said here Sunday.

The number of the tiger species is only 50-70 left in Bengkulu, while actually they totalled 400 tigers in the different parts of Sumatra, according to BKSDA.

"The population of the Sumatran tiger is currently estimated at 400 in the forests of Aceh to Lampung," he said.

According to the International Tiger Summit Partners Dialogue and Meeting held in Bali recently by nine tiger countries, the number of tigers had been increasing, he said.

The meeting discussed the conservation of the remaining natural tiger population like the Sumatran tiger, along with eight other countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam, he said.

He said that the tiger declining population is caused by hunting them.

BKSDA data show that 40 percent of the 900 thousand hectares of Bengkulu Province`s forests had been seriously damaged.

Besides threatened by illegal hunting, the tigers are also threatened by conflict with humans in the woods.

Conflicts between humans and tigers are common in the Seluma and Kaur districts, as people`s houses and plantations are located within the habitat of the tigers.

As a result, it is common for the tigers to enter houses, as in Mekar Jaya hamlet, Seluma district, tigers often entered the homes of the residents, after their livestock.(*)