Radhiyya Indra, Jakarta – Video footage of a tiger confronting heavy machinery during a land clearing operation in West Sumatra, believed to have been recorded by one of the excavator drivers, went viral on Tuesday morning.
In the two videos circulating online, the tiger is shown standing, walking around and then lying down a few meters from the heavy construction equipment. At one point, it also comes near the bucket of an excavator that is uprooting trees.
Ardi, who heads the West Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), confirmed the incident, saying he believed it happened at an oil palm plantation owned by PT Sinar Halomoan along the Aur River in Pasaman regency, West Sumatra.
"It is a Sumatran tiger that came out of its habitat and was disturbed by the land clearing activities of two excavators," Ardi told Kompas TV on Tuesday.
A team has since been sent to the location, armed with small sound cannons to scare away the tiger.
"I hope this activity is temporarily stopped so as not to disturb the tiger. I also hope that the team on location can scare off the tiger with sound and noise so it returns to its habitat," he added.
This is not the first time a tiger has disrupted land clearing operations. A Sumatran tiger also blocked an excavator in a West Sumatra forest in July 2021. After a video of the incident went viral on YouTube and TikTok, Ardi confirmed that it had occurred in South Solok regency and that a BKSDA team was sent to handle the situation.
Sumatran tigers are native to the island of Sumatra and exist nowhere else in the wild. The species is categorized as critically endangerd on the IUCN Red List, which estimates that only 400 individuals survive.