Tough Time for Tigers

Part of the reason for the rapidly declining tiger population in Indonesia can be grasped by two stories that appeared in the local paper today. One article, describing the flooding in East Java, reported that floodwaters have reached 1.5 metres high inundating shops and houses and forcing students at one Islamic boarding school to abandon their mascot, an endangered Sumatran tiger in a cage (see photo). The tiger is showing paw deep in rising water that hopefully didn't rise too much higher. Of course, it's illegal to keep tigers but so what? Students need a mascot and what could be better than a Sumatran tiger.

The next article is equally disturbing and needs to be quoted in full. I doubt that the villagers are as innocent as they make out. I'd say they were involved as well but decided to shift all the blame to the soldier once the news got out. Anyway, if there were 400 tigers left in the wild yesterday, there are only 399 today. I'd say their extinction in the wild is assured.

Soldier kills endangered tiger, skins it, distributes meat

JAKARTA (AP): A soldier shot dead an endangered Sumatran tiger that was caught in a trap in Riau province, then skinned it and distributed its meat to villagers, a conservationist said.

The incident happened in Tenggayun village after residents asked the soldier to help release the animal from a pig snare, Bastoni, an official with the Sumatran Tiger Conservation Program, said Thursday.

"Instead, the soldier fired nine bullets to its body and head, and then asked villagers to skin the wild beast," he said, adding that the man proceeded to dole out the meat and take home the tiger's pelt.

"It was sadistic," said Bastoni. He said he intends to file a complaint with the army.

Environmentalists say the Sumatran tiger, or Panthera tigris sumatrae, is the most critically endangered tiger subspecies in the world, with fewer than 400 believed to be left in the wild.