Tiger history in Huay Pakoot

For my tiger day presentation I interviewed one of the village elders in Hauy Pakoot, for any stories about tigers and the village I found out a few things and everyone was very interested and surprised of the historic relationship with people and tigers as well as the current view of tigers in the village.

 The village had a large population in the surrounding forests around 50 years ago. At that point in time tigers used to hunt in the village at night; taking buffalo, chickens, pigs and dogs. If a tiger came into the village, the villages would trap and kill it, usually using a dog in a cage as bait to lure the tiger into another cage. The whole village would usually take a day off work to trap and kill the tiger as they were afraid of the large animal attacking them in the field. Villagers rarely went out in search of a tiger unless it had hunted in the village. This is the same outlook the village has today, even though there are very few (if any) tigers remaining in their forests, they do not want to kill them unless necessary. The elder informed me that they used the dead skin to act as a deterrent for herbivores from their crops by burning and spreading the ashes at each corner of the field.

The elder also told me about his father. His father was working in the fields one evening, his friend told him to go home and that he can finish off for the day but his friend never came home that night. The next day the elder’s father went out looking for him, only to find what was left of his friend; only his head.

The village Elder also informed me that he had seen what may have been tiger tracks earlier this year. If the prints were in fact those belonging to a tiger then there is still hope for these beautiful creatures, so let’s save them while we can!

To do your bit for tigers visit the following websites:-

Ø  http://www.tigertrust.info/sumatran_tiger_help.asp

Ø  http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/tigers/save_the_tiger/donate/

Tiger history in Huay Pakoot