Indonesia: camera traps to find Javanese tigers, thought to be extinct

Existence of Javanese tigers at Meru Betiri to be proven
Antara 21 Feb 12;

Jember, E Java (ANTARA News) - Officers at the Meru Betiri National Park (TNMB) have installed five trap cameras to establish the existence of Javanese tigers (panthera tigris sondaica), now believed to be extinct.

Over the past two months, efforts to find Javanese tigers have been stepped up at the national park, chairman of the TNMB Bambang Darmadja said here on Monday.

"Many people believe that Javanese tigers are extinct. So we are trying to prove that the endangered animal still exist at Meru Betiri, by installing trap cameras," he said.

The national park covering a total area of 58,000 hectares is located in Jamber and Banyuwangi District, East Java Province.

According to a research conducted in 1997, officers found footprints and dung strongly believed to be that of Javanese tigers.

"I am optimistic that Javanese tigers still exist at Meru Betiri, although no TNMP officer has seen the animal personally and the trap cameras that we installed several years ago didn't produce any pictures of the nearly extinct wild animal," he said.

Coordinator of the Big Carnivore Expedition Team at TNMB Alif Olia Ananda said the team would also collect secondary data on the existence of Javanese tigers at Meru Betiri, in the forms of footprints, dung and scratches to support the the primary data expected to be captured by the trap cameras.

Editor: Ella Syafputri