TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Java tiger researcher Didik Raharyono urged regulators in Yogyakarta to accommodate the local wisdom of Gunungkidul residents as a way to protect the natural habitat of the species known as Panthera tigris javanica.
"To protect the animal, we should really go back to the local culture," he said yesterday.
He said that some people living near the forest have a tendency leave a huge barrel of water for the tigers to drink from during the summer. Some people provide coconut water mixed with brown sugar around the caves the tigers live in, as a way of supplying food when resources are down during the dry season.
The south coast of Yogyakarta is one of the natural habitats of the Java tiger. In 1994, the World Wildlife Fund said that the species was extinct, a report based on footage from 10 surveillance cameras that recorded the Meru Betiri National Park in Banyuwangi for a year.
Didik, author of the "Being Friends with Tigers with the Nature" did not believe the report. In 2001, one of his studies on the Java tigers of Gunung Kidul stated that residents still had encounters with the large cat.
The Yogyakarta government and council are drafting a regulation on the protection of Javanese tigers' natural habitats.
"We are now in the legal drafting stage," said Suroyo, deputy chairman of Yogyakarta Special Committee of Council Discussion.
He said the committee also seeks ways to list down areas that are natural habitats for local flora and fauna, and conserve them. "The suggestion to include local wisdom will be taken into consideration," he said.
ANANG ZAKARIA
