SUMATRAN TIGER KILLS TWO IN JAMBI

Jambi, Mar 2 (ANTARA) - A Sumatran tiger (Panthera Tigris Sumatrae) killed two men in a limited production forest (HPT) at Sungai Gelam village, Muarojambi District, Jambi Province, early Monday.
The victims were identified as Musmuliadi (31) and Musliadi (30) but it was not known whether they were local residents or outsiders conducting illegal logging activities in the forest, Dr Didy Wurdjanto, head of the Jambi Natural Resource Conservation Body (BKSDA), said here on Monday.
Because, no one from Jambi claimed the victims' bodies, he said.
However, it was informed that the bodies were taken away by a truck to an unknown location, he said.
"We are still checking to some hospitals where the bodies might be admitted," he said.
Since January 2009, ten people were reported of having been attacked by Sumatran tigers, and eight of them were killed while the other two were injured.
Most of the victims were residents of Lampung and South Sumatran Province who logged trees in the forest.
The previous tiger attack was on February 22, 2009, when Khairi, a 17-year-old resident of Lampung, was killed by a tiger in the forest area. Kahiri's body, which had been taken away by the tiger, was found on February 23, 2009.
The Jambi BKSDA recently caught a female tiger at Sungai Gelam forest area and took her to Palmerah Zoo of Jambi for a temporary stay.
Of Jambi's 2.5 million hectare forest areas, only around 40 percent are believed to remain due to illegal logging activities.
The Sumatran tiger is critically endangered according to the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), with approximately 400-500 individuals surviving in the wild, and is the last surviving subspecies of tiger in Indonesia.
Primary threats to the Sumatran tiger include habitat loss, poaching for the illegal trade in skins and traditional medicines, a decline in prey species due to hunting, the limited extent and high fragmentation of protected areas, and often fatal conflict with humans.