The nature crusade was also designed to search for sightings of a mystery
wild cat called a Cigau - a creature described as a cross between a lion and a
tiger.
Feline: Cigau
Unpatterned tannish fur, short tail, ruff around neck
Reported from Sumatra [east of Mount Kerinci]
Shuker 1998d
The nature crusade was also designed to search for sightings of a mystery wild
cat called a Cigau - a creature described as a cross between a lion and a tiger.
Despite the striking findings the growing optimism that a new species is about
to be proved is tinged with fears that the animal may be wiped out by human
destruction.
Back when Sahar`s father was a bachelor (as Sahar is the same age as me this
would have made it some time during the 1960s) he saw the cigau. Kerinci trades
with other parts of Sumatra. They exchange rice for goods like silk. Sahar`s
father and four other men were traveling a trade route. The path led through the
jungle. One of the men had committed a great taboo. He had eaten rice straight
from the pot rather than waiting for portions to be given out.
In the dead of night the cigau came from the forest to claim him. It stalked
right into their camp and dragged him off into the darkness. It was smaller but
stockier than a tiger. It had a silvery lion like mane and golden fur. Its
forelegs were longer than it’s back legs like the build of a hyena. It had a
short, tufted, cow like tail. The men searched the jungle franticly for their
lost comrade but when they found him he was minus a stomach, disemboweled by the
cigau.
It would be easy to dismiss the cigau as a piece of folklore, the wrath of the
jungle sent to punish transgressors but if you recall similar attributes are
given to the very real tiger, for example the tiger becoming angry at those who
go naked in the forest.
Sahar`s father also spoke of a cigau who laired near a fallen tree that formed a
natural bridge over a river. It would swim out and devour those who slipped into
the water.
Debbie also commented that she had many recent reports of the cigau in water.
Most of them mentioned it flinging back it’s mane to shake of the water.
The people of villages such as Palompet and Kersiktua insist this area is the
habitat of a big cat they call cigau. Described as being slightly smaller-but
apparently more heavily built--than the Sumatran tiger, the cigau appears to
prompt real fear among the hunters of Kerinci--the only animal to produce such a
reaction. They claimed the cigau attacks without provocation. "Cigau hates man,"
I was repeatedly told.
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Who done it?
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