I had the opportunity to see a tiger show when visiting Taman Safari, a national park in Cisarua, West Java, few months ago. Their performance and especially their living condition really catch my interest. They are smart, well-fed, and seem to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. This condition is in contrast with the rest of their clan in the wild who should struggle everyday to find food and escape the hunt of human.

Physical description

Lives only in Sumatra Island, Sumatran Tiger (panthera tigris sumatrae) is the smallest tiger with only 100 – 140kg weight and 60 cm height. The Tiger has black stripes on orange background. They are good swimmer and fast runner for sure. Indonesia is the home of three different species of tigers, the Bali Tiger, Java Tiger and Sumatran Tiger. Only the latest survives to this day. Some report said that Sumatran Tiger could also become extinct by the end of this century.

Habitat

Sumatran Tiger’s natural habitat for more than a million years is the famous rain forest of Sumatra, an island in western Indonesia. The tigers usually prey on deer, tapir, fish, and (now) also farm animals and sometimes in a very unfortunate situation, also human. It is not the tigers’ fault that they eat just about anything come their way, as they frustratingly and desperately looking for food. The lost of their natural habitat increases rapidly over the years due to aggressive agricultural and commercial plantation activities to support high demand of paper products and palm oil. This causes increasing attack on farmer, hunters and illegal loggers. Increased numbers of attacks reported every year is a serious sign that we need to protect Sumatra natural forest from further destruction. The loss of habitat is the greatest threat to this creature’s survival. According to WWF, about 29 million acres (12 million hectares) of Sumatran forest has been cleared in the past 22 years.

Pouching

According to Government report, around five to ten tigers are killed every year. Sumatran Tigers are hunted for their bone, skin, and meat. The bone is used in traditional medicine as treatment for rheumatism and its penis, when soaked in wine, is considered as aphrodisiac. Tiger’s skin is highly valued by local people as it is believed to posses magical power than could protects the owner from black magic. Their claws and teeth also offered for sale as charms or souvenir. A Tiger’s corpse is worth around US$ 3,500, more than average earning of local villagers in one year.

Conservation effort

To safe this animal from extinction, Indonesian government establishes Mount Leuser National Park in northern part of Sumatra Island. The park becomes a home for around 100 tigers. However, life inside the park is not always safe. The tigers still are attractive target for poachers. In addition, around 300 tigers live in unprotected area in Sumatra.

Although it is illegal to hunt Sumatran Tiger, tiger’s body parts are available in many shops in several big cities in Sumatra. For conservation effort to be effective, actions should also be taken against the markets and trade hubs.

The show

The Sumatran Tiger show, we saw at the Safari Park, was very funny and entertaining. The big cat could sit, roll, jump and even climb trees. They seem like other domesticated animals, just like a house cat or a dog. Here are some of the pictures taken. 

Even though the show was entertaining, it presented a tragic fact, that perhaps showbiz was the only mean for the tiger to survive

This article is dedicated to all Sumatran Tiger for their entertaining act during the show in Taman Safari Cisarua, West Java.

Images by author.