#DoubleTigers: Adopt a Toy Tiger Cub and Help Save Sumatran Tigers
Jakarta. Hundreds of Sumatran tiger cubs teem the main atrium of the Senayan City shopping mall in Jakarta. Some of the cubs are jumping and pouncing. The others are sitting quietly or playfully rolling on their backs.
There is no reason for alarm here. The tiger cubs are completely harmless. Made of papier mâché, these adorable figurines are part of the #DoubleTigers campaign by the World Wide Fund (WWF) Indonesia, which is intended to raise people's awareness on this critically endangered species.
"Sumatran tigers deserve our special attention," said Nyoman Iswarayoga, director of communications and advocacy of WWF Indonesia, during a press conference at the mall on Friday (29/07).
According to Nyoman, there are nine subspecies of tigers in the world. Three of them — Bali tigers, Javan tigers and Sumatran tigers — are originally from in Indonesia.
"But now, the only (subspecies) remaining (in Indonesia) are the Sumatran tigers," he said. "And there are very few of them left."
Based on WWF Indonesia data, there are currently 3,871 Sumatran tigers globally. About 371 of them live in Indonesia.
The main factor that contributes to the decreasing number of Sumatran tigers is poaching.
Many men in Indonesia believe that drinking the animal's blood and consuming its meat and bone marrow will enhance their virility.
"And a lot of people think that it's cool to have the tiger's hide, fangs or teeth to display at home," said Sunarto, WWF Indonesia's wildlife ecologist.
"We want to change that paradigm," Sunarto continued. "You can actually 'own' something from the animal without harming them. You can buy these papier mâché tiger cubs instead and contribute to their conservation."
You can adopt one of the cute tiger figurines at Senayan City for Rp 3,710,000 each. All proceeds from the sales will go to the conservation of Sumatran tigers.
The figurines will be displayed at Senayan City's main atrium until Sunday, Aug. 7. Until then, the mall will also host a series of talk shows and activities for children organized by WWF Indonesia on weekends.
You can also contribute to the conservation of Sumatran tigers by adjusting your lifestyle.
"Let's minimize the use of paper," said actress and TV presenter Nadine Chandrawinata. "Because the less paper you use, the less trees in the forest will be cut down. In that way, we'll help to maintain the tigers' natural habitat."
"Human is the biggest destroyer of the earth, but we can also become its saviors," Nadine reiterated.
The 32-year-old actress belongs to "The Roarers," a group of Indonesian celebrities that collaborate with WWF Indonesia to promote the conservation of Sumatran tigers in this country.
At the launch of the campaign on Friday, Senayan City contributed six camera-traps for monitoring Sumatran tigers to WWF Indonesia.
"We hope that our contributions will help save Sumatran tigers from extinction," said Jaclyn Halim, general manager of marketing and promotions at Senayan City.
"(The camera-traps) will be more than useful," Sunarto said. "Camera-traps are very expensive. We only have around 400 (camera-traps) installed in the jungles from Aceh to Lampung. Many more are needed to monitor the tigers in their natural habitat."
If you want to help the conservation of Sumatran tigers with WWF Indonesia, you can make a donation at kitabisa.com/doubletigers.
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