Sumatran tigers attack Jambi residents' dogs

Antara 26 Aug 10;

Jambi, Jambi(ANTARA News) - A number of wild Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) attacked five dogs belonging to residents of Renah Kayu Embun village, Sungaipenuh sub-district, Jambi province, over the past weekend.

Three of the dogs died and two others suffered injuries, the head of Renah Kayu Embun Village, RKE Jandida, said. "The tigers attacked the five dogs but not eny of my fellow villagers," he said here Thursday.

The dead dogs belonged to Suparman and Zahar. The Sumatran tigers` presence in the village had struck fear into the villagers hearts. Many of them even did not dare to go out to attend to their crops in the field, he said.

"The tigers` foot prints have been found inside people`s farming areas," Jandida said. In response to his people`s deep concern, he had met with local forest rangers about the way to drive away the tigers.

"A tiger team member checked on the tigers` foot prints in Renah Kayu Embun village last week," he said.

Jandida said the tiger team had found foot prints but not the moving tigers. The local conservation rangers predicted that there were at least three tigers moving around the village.

Conflicts between human being and such wild animals as tigers and elephants frequently happen in various parts of Sumatra Island.

Residents of three villages in Maje sub-district, Kaur district, Bengkulu Province, were also shocked when a few Sumatran tigers suddenly appeared in their neighborhoods recently.

According to a spokesman of Bengkulu Province`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), Supatono, the villages lay in an area that was part of the Sumatran tigers` habitat.

The hungry tigers were also reported to have attacked villagers` livestock such as goats and dogs, he said.

The Indonesian government itself intends to increase the population of Sumatran tigers from 400 now to 800 by 2012 but its efforts continues to be hampered by some unfavorable factors.

The factors were, among others, shrinking habitats, insufficient food, and poor surveillance of illegal hunting activities, he said.

In handling those illegal hunters, a comprehensive task force involving forest rangers, police and military apparatuses, environmentalists, and conservationists, was needed, he said.

The illegal hunters remained serious threats to the government`s efforts to save the Sumatran tigers.

At the same time, the growth of this big cat`s population was much slower than that of other wild animals, such as forest pigs, he said.