We are celebrating the dedication of the FFI/Kerinci Seblat Tiger Protection & Conservation Unit (TPCU) team, and sharing members of the TPCU reflections on COVID 19 around Kerinci Seblat and its impacts. Hear from Pidie in his own words
Pidie
Pidie joined the team in 2015 as Bengkulu ‘Base Camp Support’ and was promoted to a TPCU ranger in 2017, he lives in a forest-edge village in North Bengkulu district on the west of the national park.
Pidie, second from left on a forest patrol © KSNP/FFI
What I see as the biggest impact, for now, that has happened from Corona Virus, is that the bird markets and bird shops are all quiet, some are almost empty.
There are still some wild bird catchers going to the forest of course, but I think they are the ones who think about it as a hobby, not as a living, and a lot of people here are staying in their houses, not brave to go out too much.
The bird traders are anxious about buying songbirds because they are worried they won’t be able to sell them and of course, there are so many police road checks so it is difficult for the bird traders to send to big towns in Sumatra and to Java. In the last two months we have found signs of recently-active tiger snares so we know that our tigers are still threatened by poachers, but I don’t know what is going to happen next, I guess none of us know.
