Animal Advocacy
The Beautiful and Endangered Sumatran Tiger
We must come together and save our wildlife
In the few National Reserves that remain in Sumatra, live the last 400 remaining Sumatran Tigers; these majestic creatures have been pushed to the very limit of the forests, and now, poaching and logging pose a huge threat to their survival. The Sumatran Tiger is one of the six remaining species of Tiger, and at this moment, they are at their most critical stage of survival.
Everyone, no matter where you are from, must come together and unite to save this beautiful species from extinction, just as we could not with Javan and the Bali Tiger. In this article, I’ll be teaching you everything you need to know about the Sumatran Tiger and what you can do to contribute to its survival.
Where is Sumatra?
Sumatra is part of Indonesia’s five major islands, but overall Indonesia has over 17, 000 Islands. Sumatra is located just south of the Malaysian Penninsula, the closest Indonesian island to mainland Asia. To the southeast is Java, and to the east is Borneo, both also islands property of Indonesia. This 473,481 km² island is home to 50 million people and makes up 19% of Indonesia’s population.
What factors endanger the Sumatran Tiger?
The reason why Sumatran Tigers are in a critical position is mainly because of habitat loss. In the last few years, Sumatra has experienced a great deal of agricultural growth; and because of it, forests have been limited to only certain areas. Most of the logging occurs because of palm oil plantations, with around 6.1 million hectares of production under harvest, Indonesia is the global leader in crude palm oil. It is estimated that most Tigers live in protected parks, but around 100 of them live in “unprotected areas”; these places could be soon lost to the rampant logging.
The second reason comes from Poaching. Poaching is the illegal act of hunting wildlife without a permit and occurs commonly all around the world. The animal market is a 23 billion-dollar market where the poachers are the lowest of the chain. Most consumers of the market are concentrated in Asia, and more specifically in China, and the main use is for medicinal purposes. In Sumatra, it is illegal to hunt a Tiger, yet the heavy demand for Tiger heads and skins drives the poachers to the island.
These poachers disguise themselves as palm oil workers and roam the forests, setting deadly traps to capture the innocent animals. Once the animals are caught, they kill them, take their skin, and sell them to to the international dealers.
What can we do to ensure its survival?
1. Ask
Whenever you’re traveling and you’re about to buy an object make sure you ask:
- Where it’s from
- What it’s made of
- “Does the country I’m visiting allow its purchase?”
- “Do I have to have special permission to export it?”
- “Is it known to present health risks?”
You could be buying an illegal poached product without even knowing it. With these questions, you’ll be assured to know whether the product has been legally bred or illegally poached.
2. Stop consuming palm oil
If Palm Oil was considered essential, then at least we’d have an excuse, but we don’t!! Palm Oil mainly comes in goods such as Beauty products (lipstick, soap, shampoo), Fat foods (cookies, chocolate, ice cream, instant noodles, margarine, packaged bread), and many other products such as detergent and diesel.
How can you know if it has Palm Oil? You used to be able to check the Ingredients, but since companies lose revenue for putting Palm Oil as part of the ingredients, they decided to disguise its name. For example, You might find “Vegetable Oil” in the ingredients of many goods, DON’T BE FOOLED; Palm Oil is almost always in Vegetable Oil but it’s not always a labeling requirement. It is estimated that 50 % of your pantry has products made with Palm Oil.
Palm Oil and its derivatives/by-products have the following names:
Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hydrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmitoyl Alcohol
(The most common names are indented, but be on the watch for all these products!)
3. Buy sustainable products
Buying sustainable and certified products is one of the best things you can do for the Sumatran Tigers. Products that you buy regularly such as paper or furniture can be harming the population not only of Sumatran Tigers but also Sumatran Orangutans and Rhinos.
The Forest Stewardship council seal makes sure that the products you buy are certified of re-growing the trees and natural resources that are cut down. They also make sure that they keep the origins of the original forest and that they don’t affect the lives and homes of the Indigenous people. The FSC makes sure to maintain the responsible management and conservation of more than 380 million acres of forest.
4. Commit to helping wildlife
We are strength in numbers, the more we unite the stronger we will be; it’s time to fight for those who don’t have a voice, and to win the fight! Sumatran Tigers aren’t the only animal being pushed to the brink of extinction, Orangutans, Rhinos and Elephants are also suffering the same fate. The moment we kill these animals we are also killing ourselves, I think we’ve always known, now it’s time to act on it.
It’s not enough not being a poacher, you need to share information on social media, share it with your family, donate and stop buying products that directly affect them. It’s time for a radical change because if we don’t change now, the Tiger will just be another animal you wish your children had seen.
