WCS – Indonesia initiated an effort to address limitations in the Indonesian legal system by establishing a Wildlife Crimes Unit made up of members of government and non-government bodies, establishing a field unit that works closely with law enforcement agencies in order to put an end to rampant tiger sales; and provide financial and legal support for the prosecution of poachers.
During 2003 – 5 this project:
• Conducted investigation work both overtly and undercover resulting in the identification of 69 suspects and the knowledge of at least eight tiger skins and 240 kg of bones being sold;
• Conducted patrolling within Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, in villages around the park and major transport routes across the province. This identified two further tiger poachers and nine cases of human-tiger conflict. Village visits in 16 hot-spot areas reached 680 farmers and resulted in the constriction of 24 safe livestock enclosures.
• Supported the prosecution of seven illegal poaching and trade cases, two cases involved three individual poachers who between them were responsible for the killing of two tigers in 2005 and seven tigers in 2004 – an estimated 20% of the annual trade in and around Bukit Barisan Selatan National park.
• Conducted awareness and education activities resulting in: the distribution of 22,100 campaign products, holding a “tiger olympian” and reaching over 2000 pupils.
