SPYING ON "MBAH KUMIS" IN THE HILLS OF KAUR
Our journey this morning started at 08.00 from Bintuhan, Kaur Regency, Bengkulu Province to Tri Jaya Village, the first location to carry out this activity. Along the way, we were presented with views of rubber trees left and right. Sometimes we passed through several oil palm and banana plantations. Occasionally, we also saw bushes and a row of hilltops on the other side. The winding dirt road with right-left ravine terrain makes access to Tri Jaya Village quite difficult to reach with ordinary vehicles. The village has an elevation of 100-300 meters above sea level with contours of undulating marl hills and vertical drop-offs like canyons in certain parts. In addition, the village is also traversed by large rivers, namely the Menula River and the Kulik Besar River, where most of the river walls are characterized as canyons.
Based on its location towards TNBBS, Tri Jaya Village itself acts as one of the buffer villages of the National Park area. Its proximity to wildlife habitat makes the village vulnerable and has a history of conflict with wildlife. One of them is the Sumatran tiger or as the local villagers call it "Mbah Kumis".
The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae)is one of the ecosystem balancing animals whose status is threatened with extinction (Critically Endangered)according to data from The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015. In the ecosystem, the Sumatran tiger is an umbrella species, a species that has a very wide range so that if the habitat that becomes its range is well preserved, other animals and creatures in it can be well preserved as well.
In an effort to save the Sumatran Tiger, as well as reduce human-tiger conflicts, the WWF Team installed camera traps in two assisted villages, namely, Tri Jaya Village and Sinar Banten Village. Camera traps are automated optical devices capable of providing information in both visual and audio-visual forms. It is suitable for observing wildlife that are shy and difficult to see in person. The use of camera traps is also suitable for observation locations that are very remote and difficult to access. Previously, in 2018, camera traps were installed in both villages. Unfortunately, visual documentation of the presence of Sumatran tigers in the two villages has not been obtained. Even so, signs of its presence in the form of tracks and reports of encounters by the community continue to be found. As a follow-up to the monitoring of the tiger's presence, the WWF Team collected information on the presence of Sumatran tigers from 13 - 20 August 2019, where according to community information, there are locations that are likely to be the home range and path of Sumatran tigers in Trijaya and Sinar Banten Villages. Based on this information, the installation of 14 camera trapping units was carried out again in October 2019, three units were installed in Sinar Banten Village and 11 units in Trijaya Village. After 3 months of installation, in January 2020, the WWF Team took back the camera traps to be identified. Arriving at the residence of the Tri Jaya Village Head, the WWF Team along with several residents prepared for the camera trap retrieval trip. The location is not far. Only a few minutes by motorcycle, which was then continued on foot for about half an hour. The weather immediately turned cloudy, after parking the motorbike among the residents' rubber plantations, we continued our journey on foot. Passing through community gardens with various types of vegetation and varying terrain slopes. Half an hour we walked through the rubber and pepper plantations while walking up and down the road. After a while of bushwhacking and downhill trekking, we finally reached the first camera trap location. The location was quite extreme, on the edge of a small river in a valley. Installing a camera trap cannot be done carelessly. Usually, cameras are installed in locations that have the highest chance of documenting the presence of the target animal. The chosen location should also take into account animal passage routes, trails that connect villages and nearby forests, or logging roads that are no longer active, water sources, and dense thickets. Finished with the first camera trap, we continued our journey home and picked up a second camera a short distance away. Because the distribution of camera traps is quite far apart, the WWF Team divides the time and spreads the group in taking it. After all the cameras were taken, the WWF team processed and analyzed the data. The results of the analysis of camera traps, 29 species of wildlife have been identified from 3 classes, namely the mammal class as many as 19 species, clearly aves as many as nine species and reptile class as many as one species. Macaque monkeys and wild boars were the dominant animals captured by the cameras. Unfortunately, visual documentation of Sumatran tigers is still missing. In fact, camera traps have been installed in locations that according to the community and direct surveys correspond to tiger habitats and paths. The fact that wild boars are abundant in both villages suggests that most likely, the apex predator, the Sumatran tiger, is absent from this ecosystem. Hence, they are abundant and a pest to the community. Another possibility is that the area is not a fixed home range but only a pathway at certain times to find food, so that community encounters with tigers occur only at certain times. Or it could be that people misidentify tigers with other big cats such as clouded leopards. Because based on direct surveys, this habitat has been damaged due to land clearing and conversion to oil palm plantations or community gardens. Preservation of Sumatran tiger habitat is very necessary. Not only to reduce human-wildlife conflict, but also to maintain the balance of nature at work. For this reason, WWF Indonesia continues to fight to save Sumatran tigers through community empowerment, socialization and education. All for the sake of realizing a harmonious relationship between humans and animals.