Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

Attempt to save tigers

NZPA-Reuter Jakarta Only five tigers remain in the wild on Indonesia’s main and overcrowded island of Java, according to a Government Minister. The Population and Environment Minister, Mr Emil Salim, said that Indonesia was now attempting to save the species by dumping slaughtered goats and chickens in the Meru Betiri region. Deer were also being raised there to provide the tigers with live prey, he said. The Minister said there were some Java tigers in zoos but most were not pure after being bred with other species. The Bali tiger became extinct in the 1960 s but there are still at least 300 big cats, some of them maneaters, on the northern island of Sumatra, Mr Salim said. Man-eaters have become a big problem for officials in Sumatra where settlers from Java have gradually encroached on the beasts’ habitat and fought back with poison, traps, rifles and tamers. One tamer caught a mature tigress in a remote area of north Sumatra last month as it was devouring a teen-age boy.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19850527.2.78

Bibliographic details

Press, 27 May 1985, Page 12

Word Count
174

Attempt to save tigers Press, 27 May 1985, Page 12

Attempt to save tigers Press, 27 May 1985, Page 12