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WWF photographs three-legged Sumatran tiger that may have survived
capture - escape from snare
Jakarta, Indonesia
A WWF camera trap inside an Indonesian national park has captured
photographs of a Sumatran tiger in the wild that appears to have escaped
from a snare by cutting its paw off.
Four pictures captured by WWF´s camera trap in March inside Tesso Nilo
National Park in central Sumatra show a male tiger missing the lower
half of his right front leg. The same tiger was photographed again in a
different location in May walking in the forest. On both occasions, the
tiger appears to be in good physical condition. WWF staff suspect this
tiger is the same individual reported caught in a snare in November 2006
but that somehow scratched or cut his paw off, to escape, leaving part
of his leg behind in the snare.
The Sumatran tiger is the most critically endangered tiger subspecies
in the world, with fewer than 400 individuals left in the wild. They are
only found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where they have been
relentlessly hunted for the black market and where their habitat is
rapidly being lost to agricultural and logging operations. Snares are an
added threat to them - some are set specifically by poachers to catch
tigers, while most are designed to catch other species as bushmeat for
local villagers or as a means of pest control.
“It’s particularly upsetting that this happened inside a national
park, where tigers are supposed to enjoy protection. This tiger looks
like he’s in good condition in our photos, but his future is
uncertain,” said Sunarto, WWF’s tiger biologist in Riau. “The
Sumatran tiger population is at such low levels, we can’t afford to
lose even one individual to a snare.”
WWF is working with the Tesso Nilo National Park authority and natural
resource conservation office (BKSDA) in Riau to increase awareness of
tiger conservation, including urging people to stop using snares and
educating them on potential risks of such practices.
Since 2005, WWF and BKSDA’s antipoaching teams in central Sumatra
have confiscated at least 101 snares, 75 of them inside the protected
areas of Tesso Nilo National Park and Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve.
Of the 101 snares, 23 were identified as specifically targeting tigers;
the rest are used for wild boar, muntjac and sambar deer and sunbears.
“The use of snares is not only threatening the remaining tiger
population, it also leads to a bigger problem: human-tiger conflict,”
said Osmantri, leader of WWF’s antipoaching team. “When a tiger is
sick or crippled, its ability to hunt and catch natural prey is reduced
significantly. As a result, such tigers search for food in nearby
villages, attacking livestock or even people.”
“In response to this finding, we are currently talking to villagers
living around the park about steps to anticipate conflict and to prevent
direct encounters with tigers,” said Hayani Suprahman, head of Tesso
Nilo National Park. “We will also evaluate and improve the protection
measures for tigers in the park.”
Tesso Nilo National Park is crucial to the survival of endangered
Sumatran tigers and Sumatran elephants. WWF and partners have proposed
an extension of the park from 38,576 hectares to at least 100,000
hectares to ensure long-term viable populations of elephants and tigers
in the area. But the park faces a serious threat from illegal
encroachments for widespread, small-holder palm oil plantation
development, which has resulted in the loss of close to 20,000 hectares
of natural forest, through August, 2006. This condition has led to
fragmented and reduced habitat and more frequent human-wildlife
conflict.
WWF: 5th July 2007