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Authorities Say Poachers Who Killed Tiger at Jambi Zoo Were Professionals
Fidelis E Satriastanti | August 24, 2009

A wild Sumatran Tiger captured by conservation officers. Illegal trade and habitat loss have left the species fighting for its life. (Photo: Irwin Fedriansya, AP) A wild Sumatran Tiger captured by conservation officers. Illegal trade and habitat loss have left the species fighting for its life. (Photo: Irwin Fedriansya, AP)
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Valkyrie
6:25pm Aug 24, 2009

Punishment in the highest order should be instituted against those responsible for this dastardly act.

An example must be made in anticipation of would be poachers.. I like to call them murderers.

It would certainly be stupid and naive not to suspect about an "insider" being involved.


vdpc
12:23pm Aug 24, 2009

Indonesia image all around world is affected due to the killing of the tiger.

Lack of security and also the religious leaders must say something about it..as Ramadan starts and killing of an exting animal comes without any protetest and no concern by the authorities....

Lack of propaganda in tv and also low fines on culprits who kills animals is a babaric way of hiding the issue.

So GOD IS GREAT ALL MIGHTY SO HOW CAN AN ANIMAL DIE IN A ZOO AND MUTALATED BY MAN INSIDE OF A ZOO? I THINK IF WE HAVE A MOSQUE HARBORING THE ANIMALS IS A BETTER DECISION LIKE AN ARK OF NOAH..


Jeanne Hachette
8:10pm Aug 23, 2009

Greed and Stupidity. Stop killing the tigers . Viagra is available now!!


peterR
2:24pm Aug 23, 2009

On reflection: Surely this is done with a link to the inside. How else could it be possible to kill and steal a full grown tiger? And if this is so, it makes the crime even more disgusting.

peterR
2:17pm Aug 23, 2009

An utterly disgusting act. Obviously security at the zoo is non existent. Somebody should be fired. I think it is inevitable that the Sumatran tiger will soon be lost to the World forever. They are not even safe in a zoo. I hope the perpertrators are caught and severely punished for this evil, evil crime.

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The killing of a rare Sumatran tiger at Jambi’s Taman Rimbo Zoo over the weekend will be thoroughly investigated, authorities said on Sunday.

Sheila, who had been the only Sumatran tiger remaining at the zoo, was killed and skinned on zoo grounds after being drugged by poachers early on Saturday, leaving virtually nothing behind except the innards and a few ribs of the animal, which is critically endangered in the wild.

“There is no doubt that the killers were professionals because they did their job very cleanly, taking off the skin in the enclosure rather than dragging the 100-kilogram animal out, which could have attracted attention,” said Didy Wurdjanto, the head of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center.

Didy said the killers were also well aware of the tiger’s worth on the black market, with body parts such as the animal’s bones in high demand for use in traditional local and Chinese remedies as a pain killer or aphrodisiac. Even the blood was thought to have been collected in plastic bags to be sold.

“They were skillful because if there was one scratch on the skin, it wouldn’t be worth much,” he said, adding that the skin could fetch between Rp 35 million ($3,500) and Rp 45 million on the black market.

Authorities suspect the killers entered the zoo by climbing through a gutter running past its lightly guarded main gate and went to the tiger enclosure located just 10 to 15 meters from the main road.

They are then though to have climbed onto the roof of the enclosure, from where they threw in some poisoned bait.

Didy said the police had yet to determine the kind of poison used to kill the animal.

He said the incident was an insult to Jambi residents because Sheila, who was donated by Jakarta’s Ragunan Zoo in 1992, was the centerpiece of the zoo’s conservation education efforts.

“I just can’t bear the thought that this could be a new trend in the illegal wildlife trade, [that poachers] are now going after tame tigers in zoos rather than in forests,” Didy said. “The demand for tigers is increasing and the price is getting higher because there are so few left.”

Adrianis, the head of Taman Rimbo Zoo, said that despite the lack of security, zoo officials never considered the tiger to be in any danger.

“Apart from her keepers, there were obviously not many people wanting to go near the tiger, and even the police hesitated about going near the cage,” she said.

Adrianis refused to speculate on whether zoo staff could have been involved in the crime. “We just hope that the police can catch these people because tigers are a national asset.”