PAGARI “Local Patrol” Saving Indonesia's Last Tiger

Photographer: Adi Prima

Title: PAGARI “Local Patrol” Saving Indonesia’s Last Tiger

Location: West Sumatra, Indonesia

Period: 11/2024 - 04/2025

Category: Environment

The Sumatran tiger (Panthera Tigris Sumatrae) is the last remaining tiger supspecies, as the country has already lost two sub-species of tigers to extinction namely the Bali tiger (Panthera Tigris Balica) and the Javan tiger (Panthera Tigris Sondaica) due to hunting, habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict.
Sumatran tiger was classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the island of Sumatra is the only home of the eponymous and critically endangered Sumatran tiger.
This is particularly true of Sumatran tigers, which are mainly confined to deep forest. The Indonesian government estimates that no more than 600 Sumatran tigers remain in the wild from Aceh to Lampung region.
Unlike the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) which is easy to find, the Sumatran tiger is very difficult to see with the naked eye. Cryptically camouflaged and naturally wary of humans, tigers are never easy to see, let alone count, so tiger tracks and other signs – along with carefully placed camera traps – are often the only way to verify their presence.
As apex predators, Sumatran tigers have no natural enemies other than humans. One of the main threats to Sumatran tigers is poaching. Hunters use snare traps or shoot tigers for their skin, bones and canines. These products are in high demand overseas as status symbols and for use in Asian traditional medicine.
In West Sumatra to save this Indonesia's last tiger and to prevent any tiger-human conflict, the West Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) create a Nagari Ramah Harimau (Tiger-Friendly Village Project) by forming a local patrol team (PAGARI) in each village that has a history of conflict or negative interactions with Sumatran tigers.
West Sumatra is a critical habitat for the endangered Sumatran Tiger. PAGARI plays a crucial conservation efforts like community education, future conservation campaign, building a positive relationship with nature in West Sumatra.

Ade Putra, head of the West Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) Maninjau, said that The first PAGARI team was formed in 2021 in Nagari Baringan, Agam Regency, West Sumatra.
In addition to sweeping snare traps in the forest PAGARI also works with the people who live close to the tigers to learn how to avoid conflicts with tigers and other animals.
Adeka Perdana Putra is a volunteer with the PAGARI, the work of the PAGARI is very challenging. They operate almost entirely in the tigers' teritory, inaccessible highland forests. They are not ideal places for humans," Adek said.
The biggest threat for the PAGARI in the sumatra rain-forest is actually the tigers themselves.