Extirpation
At the beginning of the 20th century, 28 million people lived on the island of Java. The annual production of rice was insufficient to adequately supply the growing human population, so that within 15 years 150% more land was cleared for cultivating rice. In 1938, natural forest covered 23% of the island. By 1975, only 8% forest stand remained; the human population had increased to 85 million people. In this human-dominated landscape, the extirpation of the Javan tiger was intensified by the conjunction of several circumstances and events:
- Tigers and their prey were poisoned in many places during the period when their habitat was rapidly being reduced;
- Natural forests were increasingly fragmented after World War II for plantations of teak, coffee and rubber, which was unsuitable habitat for wildlife;
- Rusa deer, the tiger's most important prey species, was lost to disease in several reserves and forests during the 1960s;
- During the period of civil unrest after 1965, armed groups retreated to reserves, where they killed the remaining tigers.
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