Religion Beliefs and Traditional Beliefs Toward Tiger in West Sumatra

Tigers seem to be the most respected animal in West Sumatra. Some statements related to religion beliefs and traditional beliefs are listed below: “The tiger would come to the village and kill livestock if there was a mistake in this village. Many young people started not to follow their religion instructions*. I think that was the main cause why tigers were so angry with us. If the tiger killed livestock that means the tiger is signalling a warning. If we continue to do wrong things which tigers do not like, perhaps, the tiger will kill one of our village members” Mr Darlis said. (Mr Darlis is a Muslim) Mr Hamdan is a Muslim as well; instead of he believed that tiger will only come to the village if the religion instruction was violated. He also believed that tigers which came and killed livestock were not tigers from a forest which is close to their village. “Tigers willing to kill livestock or attack people in this village must be tigers from Jambi province**. This tiger usually has only 3 normal legs; the other leg was smaller than three other legs. “People or livestock were killed by a tiger because they have a sign in their neck called “pusar-pusar”. If we don’t have “pusar-pusar”, tigers will not kill us. People who have “pusar-pusar” had to have it removed. If they were not removed, it’s impossible to run away from tiger’s attack, Inel said. *in Islamic religion, it is forbidden for a couple to stay in the same house if they were not married yet.           **a province next to West Sumatra province