INDONESIAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY HUNTS FOR ‘EXTINCT’ JAVAN TIGER

The investigation was launched after the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) suggested in a study released last week that a single strand of tiger hair found in West Java in 2019 matched characteristics of the endemic species.

The study, published by Cambridge University Press, said a resident, Ripi Yanur Fajar, had reported sighting a Javan tiger at a plantation in a forest near Sukabumi city in West Java province. The villager collected the strand of hair from a fence, noting footprints and claw marks.

“The research has sparked speculation that the Javan tiger is still in the wild,” said Satyawan Pudyatmoko, the ministry official who oversees conservation. “We have prepared and will prepare efforts to respond to it.”

“If … it is proven that it [the Javan tiger] still exists, it will certainly become a protected animal. It is the obligation of all parties, including the society, to participate in preserving their population,” said Pudyatmoko.

Muhammad Ali Imron, head of WWF Indonesia’s forest and wildlife programme, urged caution in communicating the findings to the public for fear of alerting hunters.

Further research was needed to confirm the existence of the tiger, he said.

Only Sumatran tigers survive in the archipelago nation after poaching and forest clearing for plantations decimated the native Javan and Balinese tigers in the 1980s and 1940s, respectively.

Less than 400 Sumatran tigers are thought to remain in the wild, making them a critically endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Poachers frequently target Sumatran tigers for their body parts.