Fight to Save Sumatran Tiger

JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 2, 2009— -- Six people and four endangered tigers were killed recently on the island of Sumatra in west Indonesia.

Conservationists point to habitat encroachment as the primary driver for this human-tiger conflict that occurred in the span of a single month.

As forests are wiped out, and in many cases replaced with palm oil plantations, hungry tigers are driven from their homes and into villages where livestock is typically available.

Such was the case for three young adult tigers that reportedly strayed from their forest homes into a village last month in search of food.

They were killed by residents who feared for their lives and livelihoods.

A fourth tiger was snared and killed Sunday after attacking two farmers who were later hospitalized. The details of the case are still under investigation.

Humans have also paid a cost. Three loggers were killed by tigers in the past month. A father and his adult son were killed by a tiger while sleeping in their hut and a man was mauled to death near a river by a tiger. The killings have shocked villagers.

"It's only going to get worse as more and more forest is cleared and forest is fragmented," said Barney Long, a World Wildlife Fund senior officer for Asian species conservation.

Based in Washington, D.C., Long flew to Indonesia to work with villagers in remote parts of Sumatra to avoid human-tiger conflict through general awareness and the implementation of livestock management techniques.

He strives to protect humans from tigers, and tigers from humans.

Poaching is a leading threat to the tiger population, which has dropped worldwide by 95 percent in the past century, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The Sumatran tiger, with less than 500 in existence, is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

In Indonesia, although it is illegal to hunt and trade tigers, protective laws haven't stopped their body parts, teeth, skin and bones from being sold around the region.

A poacher can earn $3,300 per tiger, according to The Associated Press, an equivalent to what some in this developing country make in a year.

Prices vary depending on what the tigers are sold for -- their meat or fur, for example -- and in which countries.