The Women on Tiger Patrol
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A Sumatran tiger
The endangered tigers of Sumatra have some dedicated guardians: an all-women ranger team with a mission to protect rainforest wildlife.
The Indonesian island of Sumatra is larger than Great Britain and the only place where wild tigers, elephants, rhinoceros, and orangutans coexist. But these animals need protection from poachers and from companies cutting down the forest for farmland. That’s where the Nuraga Bhumi Institute comes in. The Nuraga Bhumi rangers patrol the rainforest to dismantle illegal poaching traps, while using cameras and drones to track wildlife. They ensure the wild animals do not wander from their habitats to local farms and villages, which is key to human and animal safety on this tropical island.
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Toba Batak people perform a traditional dance at the Huta Bolon Museum in Indonesia.
The rangers are all Batak, an Indigenous group of Sumatra. The Batak have a strong cultural connection to the Sumatran tiger, which they call opung, or grandparent, in their language. Calling the tiger opung stems from Batak legends in which tigers become friends and family members.
Nayla Azmi created Nuraga Bhumi with the expectation that local Indigenous women who are strongly connected to the land and local communities can have a positive impact on wildlife conservation. Unfortunately, these women are often left out of conservation efforts, she said in an interview with The Guardian.
“We can’t just sit around while there is rampant poaching or while our opung live in cages,” said Azmi.
