Tigers Feel the Pinch in Malaysia
1/11/99
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Title: Tigers Feel the Pinch in Malaysia
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 1/11/99
Byline: Benjamin Low
KUALA LUMPUR - Ghazali Abdullah yelled in horror as a 150-lb (68-kg) tiger
pounced on his 10-year-old son.
Mauled from behind, the boy was screaming in pain.
"I was shouting 'Allahu Akbar!' (God is Greatest) and growling as I waved
my hand to imitate a tiger," Ghazali, 41, told the Star newspaper as he
recalled the December attack in the northern state of Kelantan.
Distracted by the father's shouts, the tiger released bleeding Mohamed
Nasharuddin, who survived with 30 stitches.
The attack, which took place at the edge of a Malaysian palm oil estate,
renewed concerns over the spread of plantation land into the habitats of
endangered species in the country.
KILLING SEEN AS THE LAST RESORT
"It's a known fact that we are developing a lot of land for agriculture
and timber extraction. The tiger's habitat is reduced by land clearing,"
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia spokesman Teoh Teik Hoong said.
As the habitats of man and wildlife have drawn closer, the chances of
attacks by animals have increased dramatically, environment activists say.
Game rangers from Malaysia's Wildlife and National Parks Department,
Perhilitan, and even the country's army have been mobilised to track down
the tiger that attacked Nasharuddin. Three traps were set without success.
Perhilitan officials said they were confident the tiger would eventually
be captured and sent to a zoo.
"But if it's not possible, we'll have to use the last resort. We'll have
to shoot it because if you don't do that, it may cause a lot of negative
circumstances," Perhilitan's wildlife management unit chief E. Sivananthan
told Reuters.
In July, rangers shot dead a tiger that had killed two men and some
livestock, outraging conservationists.
TIGERS IN DANGER
Tigers are highly endangered. Globally, some 5,000 to 7,500 tigers survive
in the wild, according to WWF Malaysia.
The Indo-Chinese tiger is the only species in Malaysia. Of the 2,000
Indo-Chinese tigers in the world, about 500 roam the jungles of peninsular
Malaysia, Perhilitan estimates.
Historically, the world's largest cat has been revered in Malaysia as a
symbol of strength and power. The country's royal crest portrays two
tigers on either side of the coat of arms.
But as recently as the 1950s, before concerns over the tiger's extinction
had grown, authorities were still encouraging tiger hunting.
In 1976, the tiger was classified as a Totally Protected Animal under
Malaysia's Protection of Wild Life Act, making it illegal to kill tigers.
BIGGEST THREAT IS LAND CLEARING
Instances of the tiger being killed for its body parts, once popularly
used in traditional medicines and for ornamental purposes, may be
decreasing.
But experts say increased land clearing in recent years has become a major
threat, endangering the tiger's habitat.
"Perhaps with the economic slowdown there is extra pressure on land
clearing because the government is encouraging agriculture," Teoh said.
Palm oil, quoted in U.S. dollars, has been especially lucrative as its
price has risen in line with the ringgit's fall since mid-1997.
The director general of forestry for peninsular Malaysia, Hashim Saad,
said last June that about three million hectares (seven million acres) of
the country's 19 million hectares of forest would be cleared and
eventually converted to housing, industry, agriculture and other uses.
CENSUS IN THE WILD
Teoh said land development restricted the levels of natural prey and
interrupted the tiger's breeding cycle.
"The range each tiger normally needs is a radius of about 20 kilometres
(12 miles)," Teoh said.
Inevitably, tigers find themselves within short distance of humans and
livestock.
"It comes out of its habitat to look for food. Most of the time, it goes
for easy prey such as cattle and goats," Teoh said, adding that an
increase in forest preservation land would help protect the remaining
tigers.
Using remote cameras in jungle ranges, authorities are trying to count the
number of tigers - a census in the wild.
"Once this is done, we can sit down with the villagers and hopefully come
up with something," Teoh said.
"We always say the tiger encroaches into human areas. But we are actually
the ones who are encroaching on their habitat."
(C) Reuters Limited 1999.