Sun Bears Often Appear To Eat Cane And Jackfruit Owned By Residents, KSDA Agam West Sumatra Installs Trapped Cages

KSDA Maninjau Resort Officer installs trap cage (ANTARA)

AGAM - The Natural Resources Conservation Resort (KSDA) installed a sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) trap cage after the animal damaged the plantation of a resident of the Tangah Assembly, Nagari Matua Mudiak, Matur District, Agam Regency, West Sumatra since January 2022.

One of the residents of Kubangan Surau, Zurniati (46) said that sun bears damaged sugarcane and jackfruit plantations belonging to residents in Paparan, Kubangan and Aia Katiak Surau, Jorong Tangah Session, Nagari Matua Mudiak.

"Bears destroy, eat sugarcane and jackfruit belonging to local residents at several points in the area," he said in Lubukbasung, Antara, Monday, March 7.

The sun bear often even passed by in the residents' yards and in the chili gardens. Since January 2021, Zurniati and other residents have often seen sun bears roaming around

On Tuesday, March 7 at around 07.00 WIB, a sun bear appeared and crossed paths with residents.

With this condition, residents are afraid to go to the garden or do activities for a maximum of one hour. "Sun bears don't make a sound when in the sugar cane plantation and we are afraid of being attacked later. For children, I forbid them to go out of the house," he said.

Meanwhile, another resident, Saparudin (65) admitted that his sugarcane plantation area had been eaten and damaged by sun bears five times since one month ago.

"Nearly a quarter of a hectare of sugar cane was destroyed by sun bears and the last one was on Saturday night," he said.

The head of the Maninjau KSDA Resort, Ade Putra, said officers had installed trap cages at the sugarcane plantation area which was damaged by sun bears to evacuate the animals.

"We installed trap cages in sugarcane plantations and the installation of trap cages was assisted by the Baringi Nagari Patrol (Pagari) in Palembayan District, West Sumatra Muhammadiyah University (UMSB) students and the surrounding community," he said.

He added that the Maninjau KSDA Resort has been handling human conflicts with protected animals under Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Resources and Their Ecosystems since January 2021.

Handling conflicts in the form of interviews with eyewitnesses who saw sun bears, field identification, monitoring the presence of animals from feces, scratch marks and food scraps.

Even the Maninjau KSDA Resort also installed two camera traps, a trap cage and a patrol.

"We have made efforts, but have not succeeded in evacuating the sun bears," he said.

Ade appealed to residents to take more than one child to school and to the garden, so as not to be attacked by the animal.