BBC Indonesia: mass pig hunt on the Indonesian island of Sumatra threatens tigers and other rare wildlife; demonstration of pig baiting with dogs as well, at a festival in Kerinci district

[Guest guest]

>BBC DAILY E-MAIL: UK EDITION

>Monday, 13 December, 2004, 9:00 GMT 01:00 -08:00:US/Pacific

>

> * Tigers 'at risk' from pig hunters *

>A mass pig hunt on the Indonesian island of

>Sumatra threatens tigers and other rare

>wildlife, campaigners fear.

>Full story:

>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4086843.stm

>

Tigers 'at risk' from pig hunters

By Alex Kirby

BBC News website environment correspondent

Tigers, leopards, bears and other rare and

endangered creatures are at risk of being caught

up in an Indonesian hunt for wild pigs,

conservationists say.

 

They fear the hunters, meeting on 12 December

close to a tiger sanctuary, may kill some of the

protected animals.

 

They believe two tiger cubs whose skins were

seized recently in the district had been killed

by people hunting pigs.

 

The Sumatran tiger is listed by the World

Conservation Union as critically endangered, with

under 400 individuals.

 

Fauna and Flora International (FFI), based in

Cambridge, UK, says the pig hunting association

plans to take up to a thousand men and dogs into

an area adjoining one of the most important tiger

sanctuaries in the world.

 

Although the area designated for the hunt is

outside Sumatra's Kerinci-Seblat National Park

borders, FFI says the event will put at risk

tigers, Asian golden cats, clouded leopards,

Malay tapir, sun bears and at least four deer

species.

 

The association, called Porbi, is hoping to hold

not only a mass pig hunt but a demonstration of

pig baiting with dogs as well, at a festival in

Kerinci district intended to promote the area as

an eco-tourism destination.

 

Rusdi Fachrizal, a Sumatran conservationist

working on tiger conservation in Kerinci, said:

" We are very unhappy about this.

 

" The case of the two tiger cubs shows that pig

hunters are operating outside 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.

 

" 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. "

 

FFI says the skins of the two cubs, who were

siblings, were seized recently in a joint

operation by national park and Kerinci district

police officers.

 

Telltale deaths

 

They were acting on information from an

undercover investigation by the park's tiger

protection team.

 

FFI says examination of the skins showed the cubs

had died in a frenzied attack by five or more men

armed with spears and machetes.

 

It says these injuries were consistent with the

killing being carried out by pig hunters. An

eyewitness to the killing has also confirmed that

this was what had happened.

 

The skins had been concealed in the house of a

Kerinci police officer and were on sale on the

black market for $550 each.

 

The Sumatran is the smallest of the six

sub-species of tiger. The animals are at risk

from poaching for their skins and body parts for

use in Chinese traditional medicine, and from

habitat loss.

 

This leads to conflict as they increasingly

encounter people and their livestock.

Over-hunting by people of their prey species,

such as deer and wild pigs, also raises the

likelihood of conflict, as they are forced to

take livestock for food.

 

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4086843.stm

 

Published: 2004/12/12 17:43:00 GMT

 

© BBC MMIV

 

 

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