Interestingly, the villagers even see tigers as helpful. Tigers hunt wild pigs that damage farmland, and in return, villagers share parts of their slaughtered animals by placing them at the forest's edge.
Not only that. Whenever villagers see tiger tracks in their fields, they quickly cover them, hiding the signs from hunters. In this way, the villagers help protect the tigers.
This unique coexistence has endured for generations. Evidence of this can be seen during the forest fires in Berbak-Sembilang National Park in 2015 and 2019. When the fires forced the tigers to leave the jungle, they came close to the village. But they did not harm the villagers or their livestock. Once the fires passed, the tigers quietly returned to the jungle.
Dusun Sungai Palas shows us that, even with huge challenges, humans and tigers can live side by side in peace.
Unfortunately, not all places experience coexistence like this. Illegal tiger hunting by some locals puts tigers in a vulnerable position. Tigers are hunted for their skins and other body parts. These are then used for art collections, traditional medicine, or magic charms.
The combination of habitat change and human greed has driven a sharp decline in Sumatran Tiger population. Today, the population of Sumatran Tigers is estimated at only around 500 individuals, making them a critically endangered species. With numbers falling over time, it feels like the extinction of tigers in Sumatra's forest is only a matter of time.
Then I read about the success of tiger conservation in India.
The tiger population in India has more than doubled since 2010, rising from 1,706 individuals to 3,682 in 2022. With these numbers, India is now home to about 75% of the world's tigers.
India is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. In many places, such density is often seen as a major threat to wildlife conservation, especially for big predators like tigers. But in India, people's attitudes toward tigers have proven to be a key factor in conservation success.
India shows that with the right approach, humans and tigers can live side by side. Conservation efforts in India focus not only on protecting habitats but also on empowering local communities and providing compensation for those affected by human-tiger conflicts.
There, farmers receive quick compensation if their livestock is taken by a tiger, within just 3 days. This action helps maintain trust: tigers are seen as part of the shared land, not as enemies, and as a result, people become more tolerant of tigers.
