THE photograph taken in Ujung Kulon, Banten, of a giant cat believed to be a Javan tiger is both exhilirating and depressing. Now there is hope that this rare species is not extinct, as was declared by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in 1994. But it is also depressing as the photo, taken by a national park ranger, was released before there was any scientific proof that this feline actually is a Panthera tigris sondaica.

Releasing the