Pelepasan Harimau sumatera ke hutan

LAMPUNG BARAT, RABU - Dua ekor harimau sumatera (Panthera tigris sumatrae) yang dilepasliarkan di Taman Nasional Bukit Barisan Selatan (TNBBS) di sekitar Tampang Belimbing (Tambling), Kabupaten Lampung Barat, terpantau telah masuk ke dalam hutan. Jelajah kedua harimau jantan yang diberi nama Pengeran dan Agam terus dipantau melalui alat pelacak satelit yang dipakaikan di leher mereka.

"Pemantauan terakhir, setelah dilepasliarkan kemarin pagi, saat ini kedua harimau itu telah masuk ke dalam hutan pada arah dan tempat berlainan sejauh beberapa kilometer ke dalam," kata Kepala Balai Besar TNBBS A Kurnia Rauf di Tambling, Rabu (23/7). Pemantauan dilakukan TNBBS, Dephut, Taman Safari Indonesia (TSI) Bogor, dan Artha Graha Peduli yang mensponsori pemindahan dan pelepasliaran kedua harimau itu.

Pemantauan itu juga untuk mengantisipasi kemungkinan kedua harimau masuk kampung atau membahayakan masyarakat yang tinggal di sekitar hutan TNBBS itu. Apalagi masih ada sekitar 500 jiwa warga di permukiman dalam hutan (enclave), di Pengekahan dalam hutan TNBBS di Lampung Barat itu, yang telah berdiam di sana sejak tahun 1940-an. Rencana relokasi belum berjalan, justru lebih dulu dilakukan pelepasliaran dua harimau itu.

Tiga harimau asal Aceh lainnya masih dirawat di kandang adaptasi yang dibantu perusahaan pengelola Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation (TWNC) dari Artha Graha Grup. Dua harimau itu yang jantan, Buyung (6 tahun) dan Ucok (9 tahun), telah dikeluarkan dari kandang perawatan tempat sementara setelah dibawa dari Aceh, sejak Selasa (22/7) siang, ke dalam kandang adaptasi yang lebih luas dan dipagari kawat tinggi.

Tapi satu harimau betina, Panti (3), masih harus mendapatkan perawatan kesehatan lebih lanjut karena ada gangguan pada salah satu gigi gerahamnya. Direncanakan, tiga harimau asal Aceh yang tersisa itu, setelah dinilai layak, akan segera dilepasliarkan ke dalam hutan TNBBS itu dalam beberapa bulan mendatang.

Pemindahan dan pelepasliaran lima harimau itu merupakan bagian program penyelamatan dan perlindungan harimau sumatera yang termasuk satwa liar sangat langka dan dilindungi di dunia, dengan perkiraan populasi di hutan TNBBS seluas sekitar 350.000 ha mencapai 40-an ekor, dan populasi di hutan Sumatera sekitar 300-an ekor (sumber Kompas)

Introducing : Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae)

Sumatran Tigers are native only to the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Only 400 individual animals are estimated to exist in the wild and less then 200 in worldwide zoos.

Sumatra provides a varying landscape in which this subspecies lives. From peat-moss forest, submontain and montain forest as well as lowland forest. As a result, the Sumatran Tigers' coat has evolved slightly different from the other tiger subspecies. First of all, the Sumatran Tiger's coat is the darkest of all tigers. It has wide black stripes that are closely spaced, sometimes doubled up on each other. These stripes also run down the animals' forelegs, a distinction setting them apart from the Siberian Tiger.

The Sumatran Tiger is the smallest tiger subspecies. Males weighing roughly 260 pounds compared to the average 650 pounds reached by the Siberian Tiger. Females are very small comparatively as well; obtaining weights between 150 and 200 pounds.
Sumatran Tiger

Native prey includes Muntjak Deer (a very small deer species), Wild Pigs and Rusa (a large deer). Prey densities on Sumatra are sufficient to sustain inhabiting tigers. Thus a lack of food items is not considered a factor in their dwindling numbers. The primary threat to this rare tiger species is encroachment by man. Sumatra's neighboring island Java has a tremendous population of about 110 million people. Every year about six hundred thousand people emigrate from Java to Sumatra. This influx is compounded by the fact that Java's population increases by two million a year. This yearly population burst on Java puts even greater pressures on Sumatra to absorb even more immigrants. It does not take a "Super Genius" to figure out that this huge yearly human population increase is at the expense of the Sumatran Tiger's habitat. So far it is estimated that Sumatra has lost a staggering 65 to 80 percent of its pristine forests.

Habitat protection is the key again to the survival of the Sumatran Tiger. If nothing is done to stop human encroachment on Sumatra, this subspecies will become extinct like the Java Tiger (last seen in 1975)and bali tiger (lasr seen in 1940).

Sumatran tiger survey report

by Sriyanto (Team Leader Staf STP), Santoso, Ali Mashuri (Staf STP), Apriawan (Staf PHPA) dan Udung (Staf PLG)
English Absract This report represents an example of work recently carried out by the Tiger Conservation Teams in Lampung province. Information received by the team related to possible tiger
sightings in a Lampung plantation. During the field surveys no evidence was found that indicated tigers still inhabited the plantation area, however several reports from employees of the company suggested that tigers had been observed on odd occasions in the past. Condition of the habitat, and intensity of disturbance by humans, have created an environment that is unlikely to support any population of tigers now. Other wildlife have also been decimated from the plantation and surrounding forest habitat. Recommendations made by the team included the following; (1) Further surveys should be carried out in adjoining natural habitat in order to confirm the presence or absence of tigers, that could still be occasionally entering the plantation, (2) More intensive coordination should be encouraged between the plantation company and local Forestry Department, in order to ensure that the disturbing influences of the plantation are not allowed to impinge on surrounding natural habitats. Further expansion of the plantation would lead to isolation of several larger forest fragments, and would further restrict the likelihood of migration of tigers into or out of Way Kambas National Park. (3) Close liason with the plantation company is important in order to increase awareness of the nearby national park. At the moment it is recognised that the plantation serves as a strategic and covert point of entry for poachers and other intruders, into Way Kambas National Park.

Sumatran Tiger facing extinction-report

By Gilllian Murdoch

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Tiger teeth, claws, skin and whiskers are being openly sold in Sumatra, Indonesia, threatening the island's big cats with extinction, a report by wildlife monitoring group Traffic said on Wednesday.

A survey of 326 goldsmiths, traditional Chinese medicine outlets and souvenir and antique shops carried out by the British-based group in 2006, estimated at least 23 tigers had been killed to produce the contraband products it found.

"This is down from an estimate of 52 killed per year in 1999-2002," said Julia Ng, Programme Officer with Traffic Southeast Asia and lead author of the report, The Tiger Trade Revisited in Sumatra, Indonesia.

"Sadly, the decline in availability appears to be due to the dwindling number of tigers left in the wild," she said.

Hit by forest clearances, killings due to human-tiger conflict, and illegal hunting for the trade in their parts and derivatives, tiger numbers have halved from an estimated 1,000 in the 1970s.

"The Sumatran tiger population is estimated to be fewer than 400 to 500 individuals. It doesn't take a mathematician to work out that the Sumatran Tiger will disappear like the Javan and Bali tigers if the poaching and trade continues," she said.

UNLUCKY CHARMS?

The Sumatran tiger, Panthera tigris sumatrae, is the most critically endangered of the world's tiger subspecies.

All trade in its parts is banned, and offenders are liable to a $11,000 fine for trading or possessing them.

But tiger bones and penises have long been used in traditional Chinese medicines, and tiger parts are also used for magical purposes in Sumatra, the Traffic report said.

Canine teeth are used in jewellery that is believed to bring luck and protection to wearers, claws are inlaid with gold as necklace pendants, and whiskers and pieces of skin are sold to protect the owner from black magic spells.

Last December Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a 10-year strategy to protect the Sumatran tiger.

But the Traffic report found lax enforcement was undercutting attempts to save the tigers, with no tiger-related prosecutions between 2004-2006 in the towns of Medan and Pancur Bat, hotspots for the trade in tiger parts.

Responding to the report, the government acknowledged that more needs to be done.

"We have to deal with the trade. Currently we are facing many other crucial problems which, unfortunately, are causing the decline of Sumatran Tiger populations," said Dr Tonny Soehartono, Director for Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Forestry of Republic of Indonesia.

"We have been struggling with the issues of land use changes, habitat fragmentation, human-tiger conflicts and poverty in Sumatra. Land use changes and habitat fragmentation are driving the tiger closer to humans and thus creating human-tiger conflicts."

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

Si Loreng yang terancam Punah

Kompas, Jumat, 28 November 2008 | 20:20 WIB
HARIMAU sumatera (Panthera tigris sumatrae) adalah satu-satunya subspesies harimau yang masih tersisa di Indonesia setelah punahnya harimau bali pada 1930-an, serta harimau jawa sejak 1980-an.

Harimau dikagumi sekaligus ditakuti sebagai lambang kekuatan dan kebuasan alam. Gerakannya gesit, lentur, kuat, dan anggun. Harimau sumatera terancam akibat kerusakan habitat dan perburuan liar untuk mengambil kulit lorengnya, serta mengambil bagian tubuhnya untuk pengobatan tradisional.

Status:

1. Terancam Kritis/Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List)
2. Dilindungi UU RI No 5 Tahun 1990 mengenai Konservasi Sumberdaya Alam Hayati dan Ekosistemnya
3. Jumlah: 400-500 ekor di alam bebas, 232 ekor di penangkaran/kebun binatang

Klasifikasi ilmiah

- Kingdom: Animalia
- Filum: Kordata
- Kelas: Mamalia
- Ordo: Karnivora
- Familia: Felidae
- Genus: Panthera
- Spesies: P tigris
- Subspesies: P t sumatrae

Ciri:

Harimau sumatera adalah subspesies terkecil dari harimau yang masih ada sekarang.
Ukuran rata-rata harimau sumatera:
Jantan: Panjang: 234 cm, Berat: 136 kg
Betina: Panjang: 198 cm, Berat: 91 kg

1. Ukuran tubuhnya yang ramping memungkinkan ia bergerak gesit di rimba.
2. Tidak seperti tungkai depan polos harimau siberia, harimau sumatera memiliki loreng di tungkai depannya.
3. Telapak kakinya berselaput jika direnggangkan, untuk berenang cepat.
4. Cakar dan tungkai yang kuat untuk menerkam dan mencabik mangsa.
5. Harimau sumatera jantan memiliki janggut, misai, dan rambut leher yang lebih panjang dari harimau jenis lain.
6. Loreng harimau sumatera lebih tebal dan gelap daripada jenis lain. Berfungsi untuk kamuflase; tersamar di antara bayangan pohon di lantai hutan. Akibat keindahan kulitnya, harimau diburu.

Kembang Biak

Harimau betina selama hidup dapat melahirkan sekitar 30 anak (sekali melahirkan 1- 6 ekor). Setiap tahun harimau betina bisa hamil dengan masa kehamilan 102-110 hari. Ukuran tubuhnya yang ramping memungkinkan ia bergerak gesit di hutan rimba.

Makanan

Di alam liar, harimau biasa memangsa mamalia berkuku seperti babi hutan, tapir, dan rusa. Seekor harimau rata-rata membutuhkan 6-7 kg daging per hari (dapat menghabiskan 40 kg sekali makan).

Habitat

Harimau sumatera hidup di hutan tropis dataran rendah hingga pegunungan, rawarawa bakau, dan semak-semak. Hanya hidup di Sumatera dan tersebar di sembilan dari sebelas Taman Nasional di Sumatera.

Habitat harimau terancam oleh perambahan hutan dan perluasan perkebunan kelapa sawit. Harimau betina dapat menjelajahi kawasan seluas 20 km persegi, sedangkan harimau jantan sekitar 60-100 km persegi.

Konflik dan ancaman

Sepanjang 1996-2004 telah terjadi lebih dari 152 konflik dengan manusia akibat rusaknya habitat harimau. Ratusan ekor harimau terbunuh, 25 orang tewas, puluhan terluka parah, dan ribuan ternak dimangsa.

Penyebab Kemusnahan Harimau:
1. Perburuan liar yang mengambil bagian tubuh harimau untuk pengobatan tradisional
2. Kerusakan habitat yang berakibat harimau terbunuh dalam konflik dengan manusia

Upaya perlindungan harimau
1. Melindungi habitat harimau
2. Memberantas perdagangan harimau dan menangkap pedagang/pemasok
3. Menutup tempat penjualan produk harimau

Punahnya harimau Jawa dan Bali

Harimau bali (Panthera tigris balica) dinyatakan punah pada 27 September 1937 setelah terbunuhnya seekor harimau betina dewasa di Sumbar Kima, Bali Barat. Kemungkinan besar harimau jawa (Panthera tigris sondaica) pun telah punah sejak tahun 1980-an. Hal ini merupakan kerugian luar biasa bagi keanekaragaman
hayati Indonesia dan dunia.

Harimau Sumatera Spesies Berbeda?

Penelitian yang dipublikasikan oleh Animal Conservation (Juni 1998) menyimpulkan bahwa harimau sumatera adalah spesies yang paling berbeda dari harimau jenis lain. Penelitian dilakukan oleh tim riset program Lewis B dan Dorothy Cullman untuk studi molekular sistematik, The New York Botanical Garden, dan American Museum of Natural History. Harimau sumatera dianggap salah satu dari 6 subspesies yang kini masih ada, sementara 3 subspesies telah punah.

Rangkaian DNA mitokondria menunjukkan bahwa harimau sumatera memiliki tiga penanda genetik yang tidak dimiliki oleh jenis lain. Hal ini mendukung hipotesis bahwa harimau sumatera terdeferensiasi karena terisolasi akibat naiknya permukaan laut 6.000-12.000 tahun yang lalu.

Perdagangan Ilegal Organ Tubuh Harimau

Perlindungan hukum Indonesia gagal melindungi harimau sumatera dari perdagangan ilegal. Taring, cakar, kulit, kumis, dan tulang harimau dijual di 10 persen dari 326 tempat penjualan di 28 kota di Sumatera yang disurvei Traffic pada 2006. Diperkirakan 23 ekor harimau telah dibunuh. Jumlah ini turun dari perkiraan 52 ekor yang dibunuh per tahun pada periode 1999-2002. Penurunan ini akibat telah berkurangnya harimau di alam liar.

Harimau sumatera makin terancam punah

Kompas, PADANG, SABTU — Harimau Sumatera diperkirakan kini hanya terdapat seekor lagi pada habitatnya seluas 300 hektar sehingga satwa langka tersebut makin terancam punah.

"Ancaman tersebut bisa terjadi antara lain akibat terjadinya konflik satwa langka itu dengan manusia terkait perburuan liar, salah jerat atau terperangkap jerat babi, serta pembukaan hutan sebagai lahan pertanian dan perkebunan," kata Kepala Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam (BKSDA) Sumbar Indra Arinal di Padang, Sabtu (17/1).

Indra Arinal mengatakan hal itu terkait evaluasi sepanjang 2008 di Sumbar tercatat seekor harimau Sumatera yang mati dan tiga orang warga meninggal akibat diterkam harimau tersebut.

Menurut dia, harimau melakukan perlawanan dengan manusia lebih karena habitatnya dimanfaatkan akibat aktivitas pertanian dan perkebunan sawit serta cokelat.

"Berkurangnya luas habitat mereka telah memicu terjadinya 'konflik' antara satwa langka tersebut dan penduduk yang bermukim di sekitar kawasan hutan itu," katanya.

Indra mengatakan, maraknya pembukaan kawasan juga akibat pemotongan jalan perkampungan bagi perkebunan sawit dan kakao, dan memberi dampak habitat harimau Sumatera itu makin sedikit .

Untuk tiga ekor harimau dengan luas hutan yang terpotong jelas sangat sempit bagi harimau itu untuk hidup sehingga dapat memicu "konflik" dengan penduduk.

"Sebanyak 40 petugas kehutanan terus disiagakan antara lain untuk melakukan patroli secara bergilir untuk mengawasi terjadinya aksi penangkapan liar satwa dilindungi itu," katanya.

Data BKSDA Sumbar mencatat sepanjang 2008, selain harimau Sumatera, satwa dilindungi lainnya yang juga terancam punah adalah beruang Sumatera, tapir Sumatera, dan penyu Sumatera yang memerlukan perhatian serius Pemprov Sumbar untuk melindunginya.

Defecation Behaviour of Sumatran Tiger

By Sriyanto, Setijanto. H, Ligaya, I.T, M.Zamri-Saad

Abstract

The existence of animal prey species of Sumatran tiger in their own natural habitat is one of the important factors in supporting the existence of tiger. Besides that, the presence of the prey species may also affect the ecology and behaviour of tiger habitat in Sumatra island.

To learn prey species of Sumatran tiger on their habitat in Sumatra, Indonesia, directly is difficult which can be viewed only signs of the left behind, and analysis of hair that found in the tiger feces. Observation of the defecation behaviour of Sumatran tiger was carried- out in Taman Safari Indonesia zoo.

Results of this research indicated that the defecation behaviour of Sumatran tiger looks the same as in the general family of Felidae, the difference with the domestic cat is after defecation, the cat close their own feces. Behaviour defecation begins with the tiger walking find the preferred place, look to the right-left and than stops. After the stop, tail lifted, the back of the body revealed 1/3 or more of high body. When they finished to excrete the feces, tiger looks indifferent and direct way back to leave the location. Defecation behaviour on tiger can be started or followed by urination. During a day, the Tiger can do defecation as much as 1-2 times.