Serang Warga Tigers, The House Of Representatives Asks For South Aceh To Be Used As A Populationless Conflict Area

The Sumatran tiger was named Lhokbe when it was released into the Gunung Leuser National Park, Aceh. (ANTARA)

Member of Commission III of the Aceh House of Representatives (DPR) Hendri Yono asked the provincial Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) to make South Aceh Regency a priority area for dealing with wildlife conflicts with residents, following the Tiger attack on local residents.

"This is not the first time this has happened, but almost every year there are incidents of people being attacked by tigers and also livestock belonging to residents," said Hendri Yono as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, February 2.

According to him, BKSDA cannot play around with the conditions of South Aceh which are prone to wildlife conflicts with residents. Of course, this is very detrimental to the community, it can even threaten the lives of people who are active in finding sustenance in the garden.

Moreover, said Hendri Yono, the incident of two farmers from South Aceh who were attacked by tigers on Wednesday occurred after several incidents by four members of the Leuser Conservation Forum (FKL) who were also attacked by tigers in the same area.

Therefore, he continued, incidents like that need to be minimized quickly, so that the movement of protected wildlife does not continue to threaten people's lives.

"So we encourage BKSDA with today's conditions to become South Aceh on a priority scale in terms of their performance, which is focused on South Aceh. Of course, BKDSD has data for how many times a tiger has entered the village," he said.

Hendri assessed that if the incident continued to repeat itself, the public could also assume that the BKSDA did not play a role in dealing with the tiger conflict that had been happening in South Aceh.

"We also urge the public to temporarily stop activities on the mountain, with conditions like this, or if you really have to go to the mountain, not yourself, we have to anticipate, before there is certainty about handling from the BKSDA," he said.

Previously, it was known that two victims of tiger attacks in the forest area of Mount Sampali, Gampong Koto, Central Kluet District, South Aceh Regency on Wednesday were father and son.

The victim was named Amrizal (65) and his son Hafifi Yunanda (29), a resident of Gampong Ladang Teungoh, Pasie Raja District, South Aceh Regency. Meanwhile, another person, M Nasir, a resident of Jambo Papan Village, Central Kluet District, managed to save himself.

The three of them were suddenly attacked while in their garden hut in the forest area of Mount Sampali, at around 03.00 WIB.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Aceh BKSDA Agus Arianto said that his team had also declined to deal with tiger disturbances that attacked a number of residents in South Aceh Regency.

"The team has moved to South Aceh to deal with disturbances in tigers that have reportedly attacked a number of residents," said Agus Arianto.

According to Agus, the handling of protected animal disturbances is in collaboration with the Gunung Leuser National Park Center, TNI, Polri, partners, and the local community.

"Against the victims, they have received medical treatment. We also urge the public to be careful when doing activities in forest areas which are wild habitats such as tigers," said Agus.