LAMANRIAU.COM, TEMBILAHAN – A girl with the initials MS (12) was attacked by a Sumatran tiger and died, Sunday, October 31, 2021. This wild animal attack incident occurred in Teluk Kabung Village, Gaung District, Indragiri Hilir Regency.
Head of Technical Division of Riau KSDA Center, M. Mahfud, said that initially his party received a report from the Unit Head of PT Mutiara Sabuk Khatulistiwa (MSK).
Victim MS is the son of a worker at PT Usaha Berkat Fangarato (UBF) which is one of the planting contractors at PT MSK.
“Initially, where the conflict occurred, planting activities were being carried out,” Mahfud said in writing, Wednesday, November 3, 2021.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning at around 00.05 WIB.
The victim’s mother at that time heard screams for help from the victim who was sleeping with her in the camp or work hut.
“Hearing the screams, the victim’s mother woke up and saw her child (victim) as if someone had dragged her out of the work hut. Then the victim’s mother came out of the work hut but the child was nowhere to be seen because it was dark,” said Mahfud.
Then the victim’s parents went back into the hut to get a flashlight to look for the victim.
“Furthermore, the victim’s mother found her son tens of meters from the Camp dead with scratch marks and bites on the victim’s head and neck. Seeing the condition of her child, the victim’s mother asked for help to the labor camp which was close to the scene. At the time of the incident the victim’s father I was not at the camp because I was shopping for work needs,” explained Mahfud again.
Not long after, workers near the scene contacted the victim’s family who were at PT Bina Duta Laksana (BDL), and the victim’s family contacted PT MSK Security.
At around 01.05 WIB, PT MSK Security went straight to the scene to evacuate the victim and was taken to the PT MSK First Aid Post in a dead condition.
“Visuma was carried out by the police and medical authorities with the results of an initial diagnosis of death caused by death on arrival or by a wild animal bite,” added Mahfud.
The victim was then taken to the funeral home and buried.
Mahfud explained, the nearest KSDA Balai Besar Resort conveyed his condolences to the victims. Then mitigate animal conflicts with the company.
From the results of the investigation at the location, the team found scratch marks on the walls of the work hut made of plastic tarpaulin and traces that were suspected to be traces of the Sumatran tiger wildlife.
The team carried out socialization and appealed to employees around the incident to be careful and alert and not to do activities in the morning and evening.
The team also conveyed to the people living in the vicinity of the incident location not to set snares or take anarchic actions against protected wildlife, including the Sumatran tiger.
The company also temporarily stopped activities and transferred all workers who were at the scene and its surroundings to the PT MSK main camp.
Next, the team installed 3 camera traps at the scene of the incident. The next day, Monday, November 1, 2021, the Riau KSDA Great Hall held a meeting with agencies to formulate a follow-up plan for handling conflict.
From the results of the meeting, the team will identify the individual animals in conflict with the additional installation of 10 camera traps covering the concession area and its surroundings.
Installation of bait at certain points in order to attract animal movements to camera traps and carry out snares cleaning operations around the animal’s roaming path with related parties.
In addition, the team also encouraged companies to increase patrols and supervision at work activity centers.
The company also needs to change the pattern of placement of mobile camps to become more centralized so that workers can be more controlled and look after each other and ensure more security from wildlife attacks.
The next step is to conduct socialization related to conflict mitigation to workers and parties around the location and encourage companies to further increase the role of the conflict handling task force and carry out mobile patrols.
“To all parties who have permits in which the Sumatran tiger’s roaming area is in the range of movement of the Sumatran tiger in order to create friendly and more anticipatory working conditions by increasing supervision through patrols, both monitoring work and illegal activities such as hunting or setting snares, carrying out routine vigilance calls, conducting sweep snare operations, carry out routine wildlife monitoring and report them,” concluded Mahfud. ***
