Appearing In Residents' Settlements, West Sumatra BKSDA Installs Trap Cages For Sumatran Tigers

West Sumatra BKSDA officers are installing trap cages to evacuate the Sumatran tiger or the Sumatran tigris committee in Tigo Nagari District, Pasaman Regency. Antara/Altas Maulana.

JAKARTA - The Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) of West Sumatra, installed two trapping cages to evacuate the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) which appeared several times in Tigo Nagari District, Pasaman Regency. "We installed two trap cages in Nagari or Ladang Panjang Village last Wednesday and in West Malampah on Thursday with a distance of about four kilometers," said Head of the Conservation Section Region I of the West Sumatra BKSDA Antoni Vebri accompanied by the Head of the Conservation Resort Region I of the West Sumatra BKSDA Panti Ade Putra in Lubuk Basung, Antara, Friday, December 5. The trap cage was installed in the location of the resident's livestock which was eaten by protected animals under Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems. Meanwhile, another trap cage was installed at the location where the animal appeared. The installation of trap cages also involved the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP), the Pagari Anak Nagari Team (PAGARI) Salareh Aia, Agam Regency, Police, TNI, sub-district government, nagari government and local communities. "We also installed camera traps at the location of the cage to monitor the presence of the animal as it approached the cage," he said. He added that the installation of trap cages was to evacuate the Sumatran tigers that often appeared in the area a few weeks ago. Previously, the West Sumatra BKSDA had also blocked the animal with sounds for several days. However, these animals still appear and prey on the residents' livestock, so evacuation must be carried out. "The evacuation is the last step when handling negative interactions or animal conflicts with humans," he said. He admitted that the handling of the conflict also involved dozens of officers from the Wildlife Rescue Unit (WRU) SKW I BKSDA West Sumatra, Conservation Resort Region I Panti, Conservation Resort Region II Maninjau and others.

He hopes that the community will limit activities in the location of the trap cage pairs, limit them to the garden at certain hours and not carry out activities at night.