Endangered Sumatran tiger dies during flight

BANDA ACEH - A Sumatran tiger died during a flight from Medan to Aceh on Tuesday, after an airline refused to fly the critically-endangered big cat to East Java, Indonesian newspapers have reported.

The seven-year-old male tiger, along with a siamang (tailless gibbon) and two binturongs (Asian bearcats), left Aceh's airport on Tuesday and were to be flown to a theme park in East Java, The Jakarta Globe newspaper reported on Wednesday.

But at the Medan airport, the airline sent the animals back to Aceh province, citing complaints from passengers.

"We were planning to fly the tiger, named Tuan Agam, to Jawa Timur Park II, on board a commercial cargo plane," said Affan Absori, an official with the Aceh office of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency.