Indonesia and World Tourism News

Critically Endangered Sumatran Tiger Threatened By Organised Hunt

July 28th, 2006

A Sumatran pig hunting association is planning a hunt with up to a thousand men and dogs in an area adjoining one of the most important tiger sanctuaries in the world. Although the area
designated for the hunt is outside of Sumatra’s Kerinci-Seblat National Park borders, Critically Endangered and protected wildlife that will be threatened includes Sumatran tigers, Asian golden
cats, clouded leopards, Malay tapir, sun bears and at least four species of deer. Evidence suggests that the skins of two Sumatran tiger cubs seized recently in the area were from animals killed by pig hunters.

Porbi, a Sumatran pig hunting sports association will hold a mass pig hunt and demonstration of pig
baiting with dogs at a festival to be held on the 12th December 2004. The hunt, arranged in
conjunction with the Pesta Danau Kerinci festival is supported by the Kerinci district government,
but has dismayed local NGOs as the festival is intended to promote the area as an eco-tourism
destination.
Rusdi Fachrizal, a Sumatran conservationist working on tiger conservation in Kerinci district said
“We are very unhappy about this. The case of these two tigers cubs shows that pig hunters are
operating outside of the rules and without control. We do not think that encouraging big organised
pig hunting and pig baiting is going to help develop nature tourism in Kerinci and for so long as the
hunting groups are not supervised and do not operate within the guidelines, they are a threat to rare
animals in and around the national park.”
-Ends-
Notes for Editors
Recent seizure
The skins of the two Sumatran tiger sibling cubs were recently seized in a joint operation between
Kerinci-Seblat National Park and Kerinci District police officers based on information from an
undercover investigation by the national park’s tiger protection team. Examination of the skins
revealed that the cubs died in a frenzied attack by five or more men armed with spears and
machetes - injuries consistent with the killing being carried out by pig hunters. An eyewitness to the
killing has also confirmed that this was the case.
The tiger skins had been concealed in the house of a Kerinci police officer and were on sale on the
black market for USD550 each. It is not known what legal action is being taken against the police
officer.
Sumatran tigers
The Sumatran is the smallest subspecies of tiger, and is listed by IUCN (the World Conservation
Union) as Critically Endangered, with less than 400 individuals now surviving in the wild. They are
threatened by poaching for their skins and body parts (for use in Chinese traditional medicine), and
by habitat loss, which also leads to conflict as they increasingly encounter people and their livestock.
Over-hunting of their prey species by humans (such as deer and wild pigs) further increases the
likelihood of conflict, as they are forced to take livestock for food.
Kerinci
Kerinci district in the heart of Sumatra is famous as the site of Indonesia’s biggest active volcano,
Mt Kerinci (3805m), and for its spectacular scenery. It is surrounded by the Kerinci-Seblat National
Park, one of the largest national parks in Asia and one of the two most important tiger sanctuaries
in the world.
Kerinci-Seblat National Park
Kerinci Seblat National Park (KSNP) covers a total of approximately 1.35 million hectares (more
than 13,000 sq. km) of forest running for almost 400km north-south down the Barisan mountain
range of western Sumatra. It is the second-largest national park in Southeast Asia, encompassing
areas of four provinces of Sumatra - Jambi, South Sumatra, Bengkulu and West Sumatra.
Approximately 80 tigers remain within the park. Over the last three years Fauna & Flora
International (FFI) has worked with the Sumatran Ministry of Forestry to prevent tiger poaching,
establishing three Tiger Protection and Conservation Units (TPCUs) each comprised of one
National Park Ranger and three community rangers. FFI’s Tiger Protection Project found that in
2003, regular patrolling led to a significant reduction in the amount of snares discovered, suggesting
an overall reduction in poaching. Over the period that the project has been active, more than 91
arrests have been made both inside and outside the borders of Kerinci-Seblat National Park, for
offences including poaching and trafficking in Sumatran tiger parts and other species, possession of
illegal firearms and illegal logging.
Fauna & Flora International
Fauna & Flora International (FFI) acts to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide,
choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science, and take account of human needs.
Founded in 1903, FFI is the longest established international conservation organization, and is
currently supporting conservation through partners in more than 40 countries world-wide.

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