A Sumatran tiger named Atan Bintan is being anesthetized at the Sumatran Tiger Rehabilitation Center in Dharmasraya, West Sumatra, on Monday (29/7/2019). In conjunction with the commemoration of World Tiger Day, the center released two Sumatran tigers into their natural habitat in Riau.
Atan Bintang laid limply in his cage, measuring around three meters by four meters, on Monday (29/7/2019). His head was covered in a towel. Inside the cage beside his, Bonita was already sedated.
With global positioning system (GPS) necklaces on their necks, the two Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) were ready to go back to their natural habitats, a jungle in Riau province, of which the exact location is kept a secret to protect the two tigers from poachers.
For around one year, the two tigers had been rehabilitated in the Sumatra Dharmasraya Center of Tigers’ Rehabilitation (PR-HSD) in West Sumatra. The three-hectare rehabilitation center is located in the area of PT Tidar Kerinci Agung (PT TKA), around three hours away from Muara Bungo airport in Jambi.
The process to release Atan Bintang and Bonita into the wild began on Monday. As of Tuesday (30/7) evening, the team had yet to reach the tigers’ new home. They were traveling on land. Every two hours, the team stopped and wetted the cage covers to prevent them from getting too hot.
Before he was treated at the PR-HSD, Atan Bintang was found trapped beneath a shophouse in Pulau Burung market, Pulau Burung district, Indragiri Hilir regency, Riau, on November 15, 2018. Meanwhile, Bonita was evacuated from an oil palm plantation in Tanjung Simpang village, Pelangiran district, Indragiri Hilir. Before she was caught, Bonita was believed to have killed two locals.
Coinciding with Global Tiger Day, the PR-HSD decided to release the two tigers into the wild. PR-HSD operational manager Saruedi Simamora said that the two tigers were ready to return to their natural habitat. Rehabilitation generally aims to educate tigers not to think of humans as their prey. Officers who feed them must not face them too often.
Participating in the release, among others, were Hashim Djojohadikusumo, founder of Arsari Djojohadikusumo Foundation, which manages the PR-HSD; West Sumatra Deputy Governor Nasrul Abit; and Environment and Forestry Ministry director general of natural resources and ecosystems conservation Wiratno.
Wiratno explained that Atan Bintang and Bonita would be released in the tigers’ natural habitat in the jungles of Riau. He said that the jungles would have enough food for them. The release site is also far from local villages and industrial areas.
The location of Atan Bintang and Bonita’s new home is kept a secret to protect the two tigers from poachers. “We have to be careful and we cannot say publicly [where the release location will be]. What is certain is that the two tigers will be put in a conservation zone,” Wiratno said.
Currently, there are only 603 Sumatran tigers left in 23 pockets of habitat. More than 50 percent of the population live outside conservation zones.
ARSIP YAYASAN ARSARI DJOJOHADIKUSUMO
A Sumatran tiger named Atan Bintan is being anesthetized at the Sumatran Tiger Rehabilitation Center in Dharmasraya, West Sumatra, on Monday (29/7/2019). In conjunction with the commemoration of World Tiger Day, the center released two Sumatran tigers into their natural habitat in Riau.
In the past seven years, Wiratno and his team have found 3,285 tiger snares in Sumatra, including in Mt. Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and Pesisir Selatan in West Sumatra. Most dangerously, Wiratno said, was the sling trap. In most cases, amputation is the only solution for animals trapped by a sling trap. An elephant named Erin in Way Kambas, Lampung, whose trunk was cut off, is a prominent example. Without serious attention to eradicating poaching and snares, wild Sumatran animals will face the same fate as Balinese and Javanese tigers: extinction.
“I have declared war against snares. Collective efforts involving the government, the people and the private sector are required to protect wild animals,” he said.
Hashim said that the PR-HSD aimed to help the government in conserving wild animals. “Preserving wild animals is part of our faith. This way, we are involved in preserving God’s creation,” he said.
Previously, the PR-HSD released two tigers, namely Sopi Rantang and Bujang Ribut, Meanwhile, Leony and Inung Rio, two tigers who were also rehabilitated at the region, could not be saved as both suffered from pneumonia.
Cultural relationship
In Sumatra, there is in fact a cultural relationship between humans and tigers. This relationship is based on myth.
In the land of Minangkabau, for instance, some locals refer to tigers as “inyiak”. There are certain unwritten rules that must be followed to ensure good relationship between humans and tigers. Local communities recognize tigers as protectors of forests. Therefore, locals must “ask for permission” from the tigers to enter their forest.
On the other hand, tigers will never go into territories of human civilization. If they violate this rule, they may face death. “There is also the term cindaku, which is some sort of a human-tiger hybrid. If the cindaku jumps, he will turn into a tiger,” Minangkabau cultural observer Syuhendri said.
However, not all believe in these myths. “The motives behind the myths might be to protect the wild animals from hunters,” Syuhendri continued.
Wiratno added that the human-tiger cultural relationship should be restored so that locals would not see inyiak as their enemy.
