A recent sighting of a Sumatran tiger in Riau, Indonesia, prompted surprise and excitement from both the public and officials, with images of the feline quickly appearing online, Anatra reported.
According to Riau's Natural Resources Conservation Agency, BBKSDA, the agency is investigating reported sightings near the Water Injection Plant access road in the Zamrud Area operated by oil producer PT Bumi Siak Pusako in the Siak district.
A response team based in the nearby Zamrud National Park has been sent to perform field checks, BBKSDA Riau technical chief Ujang Holisudin said, per Anatra.
"Our team from BBKSDA Riau is currently conducting direct confirmation at the location," Ujang told reporters in Pekanbaru the day after the sighting in mid-January.
Sumatran tigers are rare, with the estimated total wild population being between 500 individuals and 300 or fewer. Those tigers are spread across 27 locations, meaning that each individual population may consist of only 10 to 20 tigers.
While on one hand, trail cameras are making it easier to spot these beautiful creatures — like this tigress and her cubs filmed in China — the population is still declining, with five to 10 tigers killed every year. Encounters with humans are the biggest threat, including both conflicts over territory and deliberate poaching, such as this disturbing case of smuggled tiger parts.
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For all of these threats, the Sumatran tiger is still doing better than its closest cousins in the area. The other tiger species found in Indonesia, the Bali tiger and the Javan tiger, went extinct in 1937 and the 1970s, respectively. That leaves the Sumatran tiger as the last remaining living tiger species in the country.
Protecting this increasingly rare species requires active conservation efforts, such as protected reserves. That includes Zamrud National Park, which borders the industrial property where this tiger was spotted, and is probably where it came from. With any luck, it will return home safely and will be a part of rebuilding the species in the future.
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