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Tiger year spells new hope for the big cat

New Straits Times | Fri, Jan 22 2010

The Year of the Tiger is set for a roaring start with an ambitious plan to double the population of the Malaysian tiger by 2020.

Tiger year spells new hope for the big cat

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Year of the Tiger is set for a roaring start with an ambitious plan to double the population of the Malaysian tiger by 2020.

Under the National Tiger Action Plan (TAP), the country hopes to merge fragmented forests in Peninsular Malaysia into a single entity to give tigers a higher chance of survival.

Malaysia aims to increase the tiger population to 1,000 within the decade, thriving in the 51,000sq km of the Central Forest Spine, along and around the Titiwangsa Range.

The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) and various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are working closely together as the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT) to put the plan into practice.

Many have hailed the cooperation as positive as the two parties are at opposing ends.

MYCAT will spearhead various awareness campaigns to educate and involve the public to stop poaching and trading of tiger parts.

Malaysian Nature Society executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong said conserving the forests in the heart of the peninsula would not only benefit the tigers but also maintain their biodiversity.

"While the rest of the world is very concerned with the dwindling tiger population, we, in Malaysia, can make a difference (with TAP) to achieve a healthy manageable population of tigers," he said in a panel discussion yesterday.

The other NGOs on the panel are the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Wildlife Conservation Society and Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (Traffic) Southeast Asia.

Malaysia has been identified as a crucial tiger range country in Southeast Asia for its sizable tigers in the wild and its blueprints for sustainable development.

TAP has highlighted a multi-pronged approach in various areas, including poaching, illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss, protection of tiger's prey and public awareness and education.

WWF executive director Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said outreach programmes were as important as enforcement as the ordinary citizens.

"There is no point in us speaking to ourselves if the message doesn't get out. These are actions we must take to walk the talk and achieve the target of 1,000 wild tigers by 2020."

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