ROKAN HULU/PADANG/CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — In separate incidents in early March, officials across three Indonesian provinces rescued a critically endangered Sumatran tiger with its leg amputated, arrested six people for butchering another of the big cats, and detained five suspects in rural Aceh allegedly selling tiger body parts.

The spate of arrests began on March 2 in the highlands of Sumatra’s Riau province, after conservation agency officials received a report of a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) caught in a snare trap in Tibawan village, Rokan Hulu district.

The officials, based in Pekanbaru, the provincial capital, asked local leaders, including the police, to secure the location as they made the eight-hour drive to Tibawan. When they arrived the next morning, however, they found an empty snare and signs someone had used a machete to beat a path through the forest. Blood spots and car tire tracks were nearby.

The subsequent investigation focused on a group of men believed to have approached the location at around 10 p.m., about one hour before the officials departed from Pekanbaru. Inquiries led investigators to a black minivan seen at a car wash in Ujung Batu, the largest town in Rokan Hulu district. Police pulled it over and detained its three occupants.

“The back of that car was full of animal feces,” one officer told Mongabay Indonesia.

Officers arrested two more people, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the trap, who had allegedly skinned and chopped up the tiger, storing the body parts in plastic bags. The alleged ringleader, a 60-year-old identified by police only as “EN,” was later arrested near the site of the trap in Tibawan village.

“Their method was to trade or sell tiger bones, teeth and skin for profit,” Rokan Hulu police chief Budi Setiyono said.

At the crime scene, officials seized skin, bones, flesh, knives, rope and a cellphone.

Prosecutors charged all six suspects under the 1990 Conservation Law, which could see them face up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

Genman Hasibuan, head of the Riau provincial conservation agency, said his office “regrets and strongly condemns the actions of these community members, and is committed to encouraging law enforcement officers to take firm action in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.” Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry called the incident “a tragedy for Indonesian wildlife conservation.”

Si Maung

Ten days after the arrests in Riau, conservation staff in neighboring West Sumatra province secured a young female tiger there. Officials said the animal, which they named Si Maung, believed to be around 3-4 years old, lost her front left leg after being caught in a snare.

The West Sumatra conservation agency decided to trap the animal for its own protection following numerous reports of conflict in human settlements around the Nagari Tigo Balai Forest, in Agam district. The decision to intervene was authorized following reports Si Maung had attacked a buffalo calf in the hamlet of Jorong Taruyan on March 10.

“She was monitored last year by a camera trap in this condition,” said Antonius Vevri, the agency’s conservation chief. “We assume that she has less ability to hunt in this condition, so is targeting prey that can’t run as well.”

Antonius said authorities had observed an increase in reports of animal attacks in West Sumatra since 2023, and especially in 2024 following incidents in the Matur, Pagadih, Palembayan, Palupuh subdistricts of Agam district, Pasie Laweh in Tanah Datar district, and Koto Tinggi in Lima Puluh Kota district.

“In some of these areas, up to five cows or buffalo were attacked,” Antonius said.

Sunarto, an ecologist and member of the Cat Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, said the disability afflicting Si Maung should serve as a wakeup call.

“What needs to be done in parallel is solving the root of the problem, which includes stopping the installation of snares and poaching,” Sunarto said. “Research and raising of public awareness needs to happen.”

Lugi Hartanto, head of the West Sumatra conservation agency, said officials there had conducted community outreach to persuade people not to set snares, “given that tigers have already fallen victim to them.”

Mongabay reported from West Sumatra last year after another female tiger believed to be about 3 years old was killed by a snare.

Dwi Nugroho Adhiasto, an adviser with the Science for Endangered and Trafficked Species (SCENTS) Foundation, said conservation officials can’t cope with the number of snares set in the forests of West Sumatra.

“Snares can be set en masse in various ways without regard for the type of animal,” Dwi said. “It could be that the target is a wild boar, but it’s a tiger that gets snared.”

Conservation lead Antonius said it was not realistic to expect agency fieldworkers to achieve an amnesty on snares.

“We can’t comb through people’s farms,” Antonius said. “And it’s impossible to follow the tigers around.”

Confiscations by the officials. Image courtesy of BKSDA Riau.

Aceh network

On March 14, police in Central Aceh district, in the northernmost Sumatran province of Aceh, descended on two men as they traveled to meet with people they allegedly believed were buyers in the illegal wildlife trade.

“They were arrested while waiting for buyers with evidence stored in a white box,” said Deno Wahyudi, the chief detective at the Central Aceh police force.

Police said they’d been monitoring the suspects for some time. A further three suspects were later arrested in Linge subdistrict.

Investigators disclosed that one of the men had twice previously served prison time for trafficking in Sumatran tiger body parts.

Dwi from the SCENTS Foundation said “perpetrators see that the risk of getting caught is small, so they go ahead and do it.” said Ujang Wisnu Barata, head of the Aceh provincial conservation agency.

Privacy and defamation laws complicate identifying a suspect in Indonesia by their full name, and police have identified the alleged repeat offender only by the initial M. However, a review of cases indicate the individual is a man named Maskur, whom Mongabay reported on a decade ago.

“When the perpetrator thinks the reward is worth it, they will commit the same crime after their release,” Dwi said.

All five suspects have been criminally charged under the 1990 Conservation Law.

M. Indra Kurnia, conservation director at the Sumatran Orangutan Lestari Foundation, said there were 19 recorded cases of illegal trading of tiger body parts over the past decade.

“We don’t know whether the parts are also sold abroad,” Indra said. “And the main players have never been uncovered.”

Sumatran tigers are the most endangered subspecies of tiger in the world, with fewer than 400 remaining in the forests of Sumatra, Indonesia’s main island in the west of the country.

The IUCN categorized the Sumatran tiger as critically endangered in 2007. Research published a year earlier documented that the sale of tiger body parts was common in Sumatra at the time.

Tiger subspecies endemic to the Indonesian islands of Java (Panthera tigris sondaica) and Bali (Panthera tigris balica) became extinct during the 20th century due to habitat loss and hunting.

“The Ministry of Forestry is committed to taking firm action against any perpetrators of illegal hunting and trade in Sumatran tigers and other protected wildlife and continues to strengthen wildlife protection measures through intensive patrols, increasing public awareness, and cooperation with various parties,” Satyawan Pudyatmoko, the ministry’s conservation lead, said in a statement.

Banner image: Sumatran tigers are critically endangered. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. 

This story was first published here, here and here in Indonesian on March 12, 18 and 22.