Indonesian government unveiled a plan to allow public to acquire Sumatran tigers as pets in an effort to prevent the critically endangered species from extinction, the Jakarta Post quoted an official as saying on Thursday.

The Director General for Forest Protection and Nature Conservation at the Forestry Ministry Darori said that under the plan, people could purchase a pair of tigers by paying one billion rupiah (about 100 million U.S. dollars) deposit and annual tax to the government.

"We are discussing the regulation," he said at Sumatran tiger conservation workshop.

He said that the ministry required owners to possess at least 5, 000 square-meters of land.

Darori said that tigers would be taken from a breeding center in Lampung which has two pairs of tigers. Darori admitted that activists protested the plan, fearing it would lead to Sumatra tiger's extinction.

"But we need to take action to cut the illegal trade of tigers, " said Darori.

Protection of Sumatran tigers is one of the government's priorities in environmental field.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had launched a plan of action to protect Sumatran tigers on the sideline of the climate change conference in Bali, 2007.