Malaysians are surely proud of our emblem, the strong and mighty Malayan tiger, but what will happen if they go extinct?
The lives of the Malayan Tiger in the Belum-Temenggor Forest Reserve is severely under threat right now, no thanks to the hands of irresponsible poachers.
Photo: World Wife Fund For Nature (WWF)
Perak State Parks Corporation (PSPC) general-manager Mohamed Shah Redza Hussein told the News Straits Times that the species could become extinct in the next 6 to 7 years, if no immediate measures are taken to solve the issue.
"About seven to eight years ago, we had more than 60 tigers in Belum-Temenggor. But the latest study showed that there are only 23 left in this rainforest,” he said.
“This shows that the population has declined by about 60 per cent. If we do not take action now, I am sure within the next two or three years, we would have less than 10 tigers left, which is not enough for reproduction and within six or seven years, this species will be extinct," he explained to reporters at the World Tiger Day celebration at Taman Inai, which was jointly organised by PSPC, Gerik district council and Malayan Tiger Conservation Association.
According to reports by PSPC and the state Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), poaching activities were mainly orchestrated by Indo-China nationals with the help of locals here, as the tigers from their countries are already extinct.
Photo: The Sun Daily
Besides PSPC’s increase in patrolling activities and improving its technical ability, the organization alongside Perhilitan is also in discussion to transform Perak to be a free-illegal poaching state.
Redza’s advice to the locals is to help protect the tiger’s main food source so the tigers could survive and to also report any illegal poaching to the authorities and to not assist the illegal poachers in terms of providing logistics and food supply.
This is definitely a wakeup call for all Malaysians. Let’s help protect our Malayan Tiger now!
By: Siti Farhana Sheikh Yahya
