JUNE 23,
2020
An
official takes a sample from the carcass of a male Sumatran tiger found buried
at the Batang Gadis national park
A
Sumatran tiger has been found dead in a suspected poisoning, an Indonesian
official said Tuesday, a day after alleged poachers were charged with killing
another of the critically endangered big cats in a separate case.
The
buried carcass of a male tiger was uncovered in North Sumatra's Batang
Gadis national
park following
a tip off, according to park authorities, who said some of the creature's pelt
as well as organs were missing.
"Our
preliminary conclusion is that the tiger was poisoned," park spokesman
Bobby Nopandry told AFP.
Locals,
including a village head, said the poisoning was orchestrated by farmers who
were angry the tiger had killed their livestock, he added.
Human-animal
conflicts are common in the Southeast Asian archipelago—especially in areas
where the clearing of rainforest to make way for palm oil plantations is
destroying natural
habitats.
In the
past year Sumatra has seen a spate of fatal tiger attacks on humans.
Indonesia
is also battling rampant poaching, which accounts for almost all Sumatran tiger
deaths, according to TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring network.
On Monday
police in Sumatra's Aceh province said they had arrested four suspected
traffickers for killing a Sumatran tiger and attempting to sell its body parts.
Sumatran
tigers are considered critically endangered by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature, with fewer than 400 believed to remain in the wild.
Tiger
parts are widely used in traditional medicine—particularly
in China—despite overwhelming scientific evidence they have no beneficial
value.
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