Over the next few weeks 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 ….. in their own words
Toliboin
Toliboin with remains of an old tiger snare placement © KSNP/FFI
Toliboin joined the team as Base camp support Jambi in 2005 where he got the name of ‘Bear Boy’ because he spent his first months on the team not only supporting the TPCUs but also looking after a confiscated Malay sun bear cub. He lives in a village close to Sungaipenuh, the main town in the Kerinci enclave in the centre of the national park.
“So far it is the wild bird situation that has been most affected by Corona Virus, the song bird shops in Sungaipenuh are very quiet, some have just shut up their doors.
I talked to one of the bird shop people yesterday and he told me that since the Corona Virus controls started he hasn’t had one bird catcher come to his shop to sell wild birds. About the only birds for sale now are pigeons and doves which people have bred. A lot of shops have shut down, the warungs (restaurants) are now just doing rice packets (nasi bungkus) to take away and aren’t open for people to eat in them. I think we are going to see a big increase in deer poaching, but tiger poaching, I just don’t know yet.”
