Tiger Dies in Shocking New Rainforest Destruction Video Evidence

The tiger died in an area of land in Riau, Indonesia where trees are logged by the notorious Asia Pulp and Paper (1). APP has been exposed many times for wrecking Indonesia’s rainforests to make products such as packaging, some of which has been sold to toy companies such as Hasbro, Mattel and Disney.
 
The Sumatran tiger’s rainforest habitat is being destroyed, forcing it into closer contact with humans and into areas where traps are laid for wild boar. 160,000 hectares of natural forest are destroyed by the pulp and paper and palm oil industries every year in Riau. Besides the dead tiger, the new video evidence also shows large areas of destroyed forest nearby.
 
The video footage, taken earlier this month, shows a Sumatran tiger, one of only around 400 remaining in the wild, caught in a wild boar trap. According to the local head of the Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam (the Natural Resource Conservation Agency), the male tiger died from its injuries. The rescuers tranquilised the tiger, thought to be around one and a half years old, before they hoped to try and remove the trap, but the animal died before they could do so, in front of the rescuers. A Greenpeace staff member accompanied the rescue team to the scene as an observer.
 
Bustar Maitar, of Greenpeace South East Asia, said:
 
“This sad and startling footage shows the toll that rainforest destruction has on wildlife.
 
“If APP weren’t trashing the rainforests of Indonesia to make packaging and paper, then endangered tigers would not be forced into closer contact with humans, and there’s much less chance that they’d get caught in traps like this one.”
 
The evidence is expected to pile pressure on the world’s largest forestry certification body, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification. The PEFC certifies ‘sustainable’ paper products around the world, but has been criticised for their connections to APP. Products containing timber from the area where the tiger died could receive the PEFC stamp of approval.
 
Last month, Greenpeace investigators used forensic testing to reveal that toys such as Barbie and Transformers have packaging that comes from the Indonesian rainforests. They also used a combination of ‘in country’ investigation, mapping data and traced company certificates to show that Mattel, Hasbro and Disney toys often come in packaging produced by APP.
 
Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest destruction in the world. The Indonesian government estimates that more than one million hectares of rainforests are being cleared every year.
 
ENDS
 
Notes:
 
(1) Asia Pulp and Paper is the pulp and paper division of the Sinar Mas group and is supplied by companies who are part of that same group, like PT. Arara Abadi. It was a PT Arara Abadi concession where this footage was taken.
 
Map can be seen here:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/artwork/forests/2011/PTAraraAbadi_600x400.png
 
Contacts:
 
Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace forests campaigner, Indonesia: +62 813 4466 6135
Rolf Skar, Greenpeace forests campaigner, USA: +1 415 533 2888
Andy Tait, Greenpeace forests campaigner, UK: +44 7801 212 980
Niall Bennett, Greenpeace communications, UK: +44 7717 704 577