Sumatran Tiger Pair Making Love Nest in Zoo as Part of Bid to Grow Population

Sumatran Tiger Pair Making Love Nest in Zoo as Part of Bid to Grow Population

Banda Aceh. To provide them with the correct conditions to reproduce, two Sumatran tigers from Aceh’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency are scheduled to be moved to the Taman Safari Indonesia wildlife park in Bogor, West Java, the agency’s chief said on Monday.

Abubakar Chekmat said the agency, known as BKSDA, was scheduled to put both Cut Nyak, 5, and Salamah, 3, on a flight to Jakarta on Tuesday evening.

“It is no longer possible for both the tigers to be released to their natural habitat. Both are tame. Cut Nyak was even treated by a local resident before she was returned to BKSDA last year,” Abubakar told the Jakarta Globe. “If we release them to their natural habitat, the possibility that they will die is very high. We therefore decided to transfer them to Taman Safari. There will be a better chance for them to reproduce there, where they can be monitored by zoo officers.”

Bongot, a veterinarian from Taman Safari, confirmed on Monday that both tigers were physically healthy and ready for the flight to Jakarta, even though Salamah had lost one of her limbs following an emergency amputation after one of her feet got caught in a boar trap last year.

“They will first be tranquilized before they are flown off to Jakarta. They will be put in special cages,” Abubakar said, adding that he had previously reported the transfer plans to Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, noting that BKSDA was overwhelmed with the responsibility of taking care of both tigers.

Yulius Suprihardo, spokesman for Taman Safari, said that the tigers would have a better chance of survival if they were transferred to the zoo.

“From our experiences we can conclude that they usually live longer in captivity,” Yulius said, adding that the transfer was an effort to prevent tigers from facing extinction.

“Today, Balinese tigers are extinct. We surely do not want that to happen with Sumatran tigers,” Yulius said.

Abubakar estimated that there were between 147 and 154 Sumatran tigers in Aceh, or about 22 percent of the remaining Sumatran tigers in the country.

This Sumatran tiger from Aceh will be on its way today to the Taman Safari Indonesia park in Bogor, West Java, where it will be given more conducive conditions to mate and reproduce. (EPA Photo/Hotli Simanjuntak)

Writer : Nurdin Hasan & Dessy Sagita
Source : http://www.thejakartaglobe.com