Indonesia: Sumatran tiger enters market in Riau

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 15 Nov 18;

A Sumatran tiger has been found hiding in a basement of a shophouse in a market in Pulau Burung village, Indragiri Hilir regency, Riau, stirring uproar in the densely populated area.

The presence of the tiger was first known on Wednesday at about 11 a.m. local time, when a resident spotted it walking around under the attached stilt houses belonging to Johari, Atek, Aming and Ayang.

Shortly afterwards, the picture of the tiger went viral on social media and people flocked the market to see the animal.

The police and residents put nets around the shop and continued monitoring the tiger's movements until Thursday morning.

“To prevent the tiger from going out, police and military personnel remained on guard at the location until the team from the BKSDA Riau arrived here,” said the chief of the Pulau Burung Police, First Insp. Junaidi, on Thursday, referring to the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency.

At least three Sumatran tigers have been spotted in housing areas in Pulau Burung in the last two months. On Sept. 9 and Oct. 25, a tiger wounded a number of cows in the Sungai Danai and Teluk Nibung subdistricts.

BKSDA Riau spokesperson Dian Indriati said her office had earlier placed traps and installed surveillance cameras in some spots to trace the tigers’ whereabouts but without success.

A rescue team had been sent to the location on Thursday morning, Dian said.


Sumatran tiger trapped in riau market
Antara 16 Nov 18;

Pekanbaru, Riau, (ANTARA News) - The authority in Riau Province could not yet evacuate a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris) stuck in a market in Pulau Burung subdistrict of Indragiri Hilir since Wednesday (Nov 14).

Head of the provincial Natural Resource Conservation Agency, Suharyono, said here on Thursday that a joint team of the military, police, and the conservation agency personnel has been deployed to evacuate the endangered species.

The team shot the tiger with tranquilizer drugs to paralyze it, but the tiger managed to run away, deeper inside the market, before the drug worked.

"At around 13.00 p.m., the tiger was shot with a dose that could paralyze it for two hours," Suharyono noted, adding that the team had to wait for half an hour for the tranquilizer to work.

The team has continued the evacuation process and prepared for the second shot to paralyze the wild animal.

Suharyono remarked that the tiger allegedly emerged from bushes near the market. A four-hectare area covered with bushes located near the market has been the hiding place for tigers.

According to Suharyono, the area is not big enough for the species and they do not have enough food there. The tiger had killed three livestock in the subdistrict.

During the year, some tigers had reportedly entered villages in the region.

In January, a female tiger named Bonita was stuck in a village. It took three months for the authority to find and evacuate the tiger, but during that time, she had killed three villagers.

In September, a tiger killed villagers` livestock before he was trapped and evacuated by the conservation personnel.

In the neighboring district of Kuantan, a pregnant tiger was found dead after she was trapped in a pig trap.

Reporting by Anggi Romadhoni
Editing by S Haryati
Editor: Suharto

Trapped tiger evacuated to Dharmasraya rehabilitation center
Antara 17 Nov 18;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Riau Natural Resources Conservation Office (BBKSDA) personnel evacuated a Sumatran tiger trapped in the Pulau Burung market area in Indragiri Hilir, Riau Province, to the Dharmasraya Sumatran Tiger Rehabilitation Center (PRHS) in West Sumatra Province.

"We will observe the tiger in cooperation with the Arsari Foundation of the Dharmasraya PHRS, Suharyono, head of the Riau BBKSDA, stated here, Saturday.

Riau has no tiger rehabilitation center, so the animal was moved to the neighboring province, he explained.

The three-year-old male tiger was found trapped and in a wounded state in the Pulau Burung market area on November 14, 2018. After being rehabilitated, the tiger will be released into the wild.

Bonita, a four-year-old tigress, who had killed three residents of Indragiri Hilir, is also being kept in the West Sumatra rehabilitation center.

The Sumatran tiger, or panthera tigris sumatrea, an endemic animal of Sumatra, is protected by law, as the animal is on the brink of extinction.

Its population is estimated at some 400 in the wild, and one-third of them are in Riau Province, Sumatra Island.

In 2016, two people were jailed for four years each for trading tiger skins. The cases were handled by the Riau Police in cooperation with the local natural resources conservation offices of Riau and Jambi.

In 2017, two people were also arrested and jailed for four years each for trading tiger skin and bone in Riau, while in Jambi, two people were imprisoned for eight months for the trade of tiger skin.

In February 2018, two tiger skin traders were jailed for two years in Jambi.

Three Sumatran tigers were killed in Jambi and two in Riau in 2015 due to human-tiger conflicts.

In 2016, four tigers were killed in Jambi and one in Riau, while three tigers were killed in Riau in 2017, and four tigers were killed in 2018.
Reporting by Anggi Romadhoni
Editing by Fardah

Editor: Fardah Assegaf

Wounded tiger rescued from traditional market on Riau islet
Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 17 Nov 18;

After escaping a snare and hiding at a traditional market in Indragiri Hilir, Riau, for three days, a tiger was finally rescued on Saturday.

A rescue team from the Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BBKSDA Riau) shot the animal with a tranquilizer gun at 1:48 a.m. on Saturday while it was hiding in a pit under a stilted shophouse at a traditional market on Burung Island, an islet located in the regency.

“We had to tear down the shop’s bathroom floor so that we could take out the tiger while it was sedated,” said BBKSDA Riau head Suharyono.

The team struggled to remove the male tiger, which is estimated to weigh about 80 kilograms. The team also had to race against time as the sedative is only effective for two hours.

After it was successfully removed, the animal was placed in a cage and examined by three veterinarians.

“It is approximately 3 years old,” Suharyono said.

The vets found snare wounds on the tiger’s front left and back right legs, while one of its fangs was fractured, which likely occurred during its attempt to break free from the snare.

The tiger will be sent to a conservation center in Dharmasraya, West Sumatra, which is operated by the Arsari Foundation.

From Indragiri Hilir, it will be taken by a speedboat to Tembilahan, a district in Indragiri Hilir, and later transported by truck to Dharmasraya. Considering the rampant hunt on tigers, the agency said the journey would be guarded by police and military personnel.

Suharyono said the BBKSDA was investigating how the tiger got trapped in the market as the islet is not its natural habitat.

“We named [the tiger] Atan Bintang. Atan means young bachelor in Malay while bintang means star, because we rescued him at night under the stars,” he said.