Tigers Bite Back, Killing 18 Riau Villagers

Laksamana.net ^ | Jan. 10, 2005 | Staff

[Kitten Festival]

Laksamana.Net - Sumatran tigers, on the brink of extinction due to poaching and rampant illegal logging, killed 18 people in and around a conservation forest in Riau province last year, an official said Monday (10/1/05).

The attacks took place in the 150,000-acre Senepis Tiger Conservation Area and in outlying villages, said John Kenedie, head of Riau’s Nature Conservation Office.

"In 2004 alone, 18 villagers were killed. Over the past five years, there have been 40 locals who had fallen prey of the Sumatran tigers," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.

He said the endangered tigers often left their natural habitat and prowled into nearby villages to prey on cattle and people.

Police have said at least three of those killed in last year’s attacks were illegal loggers operating in the conservation area.

[Kitten Festival]

The other hazard of living on Sumatra. We know the first one.

[cyborg]

I thought this was going to be an article about Tiger Woods shaking the curse of marriage on the golf game.

[OSHA]

[cyborg]

Joking aside, it sounds as if illegal logging and ignorance about conservation is causing a lot of these attacks.

[henderson field]

Quite true. The logging eliminates habitat for the tiger's natural food. Population growth eliminates the tiger's natural food. The tiger has a survival instinct. He finds a new food supply. People. Lesson: leave the wild to the wild.

[teenyelliott]

Sounds like what goes around comes around.

[cyborg]

Well yes to a certain extent. I know these countries cater a lot of ecotourism and have their own programs. If people go clear cut illegally, then don't blame the tigers!

[rdl6989]

Did somebody say "tiger attack"?

[weenie]

First of all, hoorah (whooooo-raaaah) for the tigers.

But secondly, those of us resisting the temptation of, er, the loviliness of the opposite sex (regardless of specie)...well, we say shame, shame...

but here she is again...d@mn lovely, sir...shame!

[csvset]

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

[Americanchild]

This may sound silly, but in some places they have reduced or eliminated tiger attacks by having people wear face masks on the backs of their heads when they go into the forest. This prevents tigers from ambushing from the rear because the beast thinks you are looking at it and it's lost the element of surprise.

[LenS]

Better lesson -- kill the tigers. Their ancestors lost to ours in the race to the top of the food chain. So either kill them or put them all in cages/zoos. We don't tolerate grizzlies killing people here, so why should the poor of the 3rd world die to appease Western tiger lovers?