This 33-year-old suspect was arrested in the Talang Banjar neighborhood of Jambi Timur Sub-district, Jambi City, on April 24, 2020, Coordinator of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Agency's (BKSDA's) Rangers Jefriyanto stated here, Tuesday.
The agency's team members collaborated with local police investigators to uncover this case after tracing Fendi's efforts to sell several specimens of wild animals, including Sumatran tiger skin and antlers, on Facebook, he revealed.
During his arrest, the agency's personnel and police investigators also confiscated several specimens of endangered animals, including the skin, fangs, and claws of Sumatran tigers, he confirmed.
The suspect is currently under the Jambi City Police’s custody, pending further investigation.
ANTARA noted that Sumatran tigers remain vulnerable to habitat loss and poaching.
In Indonesia, Sumatran tigers are the sole surviving tiger species, as the country had already lost two sub-species of tigers to extinction: the Bali tiger that became extinct in 1937 and the Javan tiger in the 1970s.
Sumatran tigers, the smallest of all tigers, are currently a critically endangered species only found on Sumatra Island, Indonesia’s second-largest island.
The tigers are on the brink of extinction owing to deforestation, poaching, and conflicts between wild animals and local people owing to their dwindling habitats.
The exact figure of Sumatran tigers left in the wild is ambiguous, though the latest estimates range, from under 300 to possibly 500 at 27 locations, including in the Kerinci Seblat National Park, Tesso Nilo Park, and Gunung Leuser National Park.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), their numbers have decreased, from some one thousand in the 1970s.
The 2009 report by the forestry ministry points to conflict with human beings posing the biggest threat to conservation. The report cited that on average, five to 10 Sumatran tigers have been killed yearly since 1998. Related news: Sumatran tigers attack several cows in Riau: BKSDA
Related news: Sumatran tiger trapped in South Sumatra's Muara Enim District
EDITED BY INE
Translator: Nanang M, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
