Saving the Sumatran tiger
Posted on 13 January 2004
A University of York graduate is involved in efforts to save endangered wild Sumatran tigers which have become a problem to local populations, killing people and eating livestock.
Neil Franklin, Director of the Sumatran Tiger Trust recently completed his PhD at York on the conservation of Sumatran tigers.
The Sumatran tiger, the last surviving subspecies of tiger in Indonesia, has been driven into villages in a search for food as logging and expanding oil-palm cultivation threaten its habitat. It is also hunted by poachers for its skins and for traditional medicines, and today only 400-500 survive in the wild.
The situation has become a crisis in the last two years in the Riau province of Sumatra, as more than 30 people died and large numbers of animals were lost around the city of Dumai. Villagers trying to protect themselves and their livestock killed several tigers and captured another six which were sent to zoos on neighbouring Java.
But the imminent crisis triggered a positive outcome from the local authorities in Dumai and conservation bodies which recognised the urgent need to protect the tigers. Logging concessions were suspended to create a 60,000 hectare sanctuary and for the first time in Indonesian conservation history, problem tigers are being humanely captured and transferred to the newly-created Senepsis Reserve.
The first tiger to be moved there was a three-year-old male, captured in September. In late October a second fully-mature male was captured in a box trap and journeyed seven hours by boat to the sanctuary. Both animals are reported to be doing well in their new habitat, and are monitored by infrared remote cameras and surveys in the field. Plans are underway to monitor the tigers by radio collars and intensive protection patrols.
Neil Franklin, Director of the Indonesia Programme for The Tiger Foundation of Canada and Sumatran Tiger Trust of the UK, said: 'It had got to a crisis situation. This has been a wonderful solution, and we're hoping now that the reserve will provide a long-sought model for threatened tiger populations in many other parts of the world.'
The reserve was created by co-operation between the Mayor and local government of Dumai, H.Wan Syamsir Yus; the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program which is a partnership between the Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, The Tiger Foundation, and the Sumatran Tiger Trust.
Mr Widodo S. Ramono, Director of Biodiversity Conservation at the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, applauded the programme's creative approach. 'Resolving the conflict by capturing and re-releasing tigers in safe zones serves to protect both humans and tigers; a much better alternative than seeing wild tigers killed or sent to zoos. This is a major step forward for Indonesian and global tiger conservation.'
Notes to editors:
- Photographs (one of York graduate Neil Franklin)are available on request by contacting the Communications Office on 01904 432029 or email njc7@york.ac.uk
- All photos are (C) 2003 and property of the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program (Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation, Ministry of Forestry, Indonesia - The Tiger Foundation and Sumatran Tiger Trust).