The Car Free Day area on a Sunday morning is always packed with groups of people competing for the attention of the public. This was the case with the Tiger Heart Riau community, which was set up in Pekanbaru City Park on Sunday (July 31, 2016) to commemorate Global Tiger Day. This activity is a collaboration between WWF Central Sumatra, the Riau section of the Sumatra Regional Security and Law Enforcement Center (BPPH) and Riau Police with the theme "Support Law Enforcement against Rare Animal Crimes.".

At seven thirty minutes past seven, the Global Tiger Day (GTD) campaign began with a casual walk through the CFD area carrying banners, posters and appeals for the importance of tiger conservation and law enforcement against wildlife crime. Dozens of students from SDN 176 Pekanbaru joined the walk wearing tiger attributes and chanting "protect the tiger". The fun walk was also attended by personnel from the Directorate of Community Guidance and Criminal Investigation, Riau Police and forestry police from BPPH LHK Riau region. A number of theater performers and traditional musicians while walking played theatrical excerpts of Sumatran tigers that are still hunted by poachers. While the presence of traditional Kampar Kiri music in the form of gongs further attracted the attention of the CFD area visitors.

"The purpose of this campaign is to urge the public to actively participate in assisting law enforcement efforts against wildlife crime, so that the community can become partners with law enforcement in reducing the occurrence of animal death cases," explained Nurchalis Fadli, Habitat Management Coordinator of WWF Central Sumatra.

AKP. Hariwiyawan, SH who is the Head of Sub-Directorate IV of Criminal Investigation of Riau Police, in a separate place explained, "Basically we support this activity, the goal is also to provide socialization to the public regarding law enforcement of endangered animals, including Sumatran Tigers. The public can report and then we will follow up on rare animal crimes in Riau through the hotline on our appeal banner," he said. Previously, Riau Police arrested a Sumatran Tiger skin trafficker in Kuantan Singingi.

The Global Tiger Day celebration in Pekanbaru was also enlivened with several activities including coloring contest for elementary school students, demonstration of camera trap as one of the tools used for Sumatran Tiger monitoring. In another corner, a man was seen telling stories to the children. Mr. Samsudin is an endangered wildlife storyteller on a mission to pedal a bicycle to tell stories about conservation issues along the island of Sumatra. Starting from Jambi to Medan to coincide with the August 17th celebration. The children seemed enthusiastic listening to Mr. Samsudin's storytelling, which tells about Sumatran tigers using his puppet character made of cardboard.

Edwar Aritonang, Section Head of BPPH LHK Riau, who participated in the activity, urged the public to care about Sumatran tiger conservation. This concern can be instilled from an early age to children.

In the last two years, the police and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry have been intensively enforcing the law against wildlife crime in Riau. This year alone, two cases have been handled by these law enforcers, namely the trade of a pair of elephant tusks and a tiger skin.

Tiger Heart Riau, a volunteer-based community that participates in campaigning and educating the public about Sumatran tiger conservation efforts.

Dwi Adhari Nugraha, a member of Tiger Heart Riau, said, 'The Critically Endangered status of the Sumatran tiger is a strong motivation for us to take part in education and campaigns for law enforcement and the importance of the survival of the Sumatran tiger in its habitat. "