Why we should save the Malayan tiger

 

The tiger has been in the news lately – the real tiger and the Year of the Tiger.

The Chinese are excitedly discussing what the Year of the Tiger, which arrives in about two weeks, will bring while wild animal watchers and conservationists are concerned that the Malayan tiger may become extinct within five to 10 years if effective conservation measures are not implemented.

Tigers are magnificent creatures. As a child I had some scary moments watching the animal trainer coax tigers and lions to perform acrobatics, jump through rings of fire and other tricks in the circus. At the same time, it was wonderfully thrilling.

In the days of innocent childhood, the thought never crossed my mind that these lovely, sinewy animals belong in the wild and that making them do tricks or even caged in the zoo to be stared at by curious humans robbed them of their dignity.

But if I hadn’t seen tigers in the circuses, or later in the Taiping Zoo, I might not now have acquired this sentimental feeling that I have for them.

Another reason I have for liking tigers is that I am a Tiger. Let me explain: The tiger is the emblem of King Edward VII School (both primary and secondary), Taiping, where I studied. All students are known as Tigers and older guys like me are referred to as Old Tigers, not old boys.

And we lived up to the name as we frequently, if not almost always, mauled our opponents on the playing field, especially in rugby. The loud roar (literally and figuratively) of the Tigers would create fear in our opponents.

The school rugby team, just as the students, are usually referred to as Tigers rather than Edwardians.

And there is such a thing as the Tiger Spirit, which, osmosis-like, penetrates students of the school (or used to), the essence of which is a combination of courage, strength, dignity, joie de vivre, challenging yourself to be better and respecting everyone regardless of race, religion, colour or creed. But that’s another story.

I’ve only seen tigers in cages or enclosed spaces and performing in the circus, never in the wild. However, I have seen lions and cheetahs roaming in Africa’s wildlife parks. I’ve seen them up close and I can tell you that these cats are truly magnificent, especially when they sprint or leap.

I witnessed a couple of lionesses chase and bring down their prey, a kudu, hardly 8 metres from where I sat on an open land rover one night. They were unperturbed by the vehicle following them as they chased down their prey.

From the wildlife rangers I learned that the big cats don’t attack humans, unless you act in a manner that is interpreted as a threat, or if they are wounded and hungry and there’s no other meal nearby. They certainly don’t kill for sport as humans do. And it’s a good thing they have no concept of money.

If a tiger, for instance, raids villages for chickens and goats, it is most probably because it is wounded, likely due to a snare laid by a poacher or a debilitating bullet wound from a hunter’s rifle.

The tiger is not just powerful; it is beautiful and majestic as well. Just as no two humans have the same fingerprints, no two tigers have the same stripes. The tiger’s stripes are natural camouflage and help it survive in the wild.

The tiger can jump up to 10m because its hind legs are longer than its front legs and its claws can grow up to 10cm long.

There are six genetically distinct subspecies of tigers: the Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni), the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), the South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), the Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti).

The Malayan tiger, our national animal, is now on the verge of extinction. There are only an estimated 150 tigers left in the wild, and no one knows how many of these are able to breed.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Malaysia warns that if drastic measures are not taken, the Malayan tiger could become extinct in five to 10 years. In my column yesterday, I highlighted some of the major reasons for this so I won’t repeat them here.

There are many reasons why we should protect the tiger. For one, it is, as I said, a magnificent animal. Importantly for us, it carries the name “Malayan” and is a national symbol.

The coat of arms of Malaysia has two tigers supporting an escutcheon, in addition to a crescent and a fourteen-pointed star. The tigers have been part of the armorial ensign from the time of the Federated Malay States.

Do we want future generations to look at the coat of arms and ask: “How come our ancestors did not protect the very animal that symbolises the nation?”

The tiger is not only on the coat of arms, it is also on the emblem of the Royal Malaysia Police. And it is to be found on the emblems of private entities such as Maybank and car-manufacturer Proton.

We have had a long relationship with the tiger. For instance, the image of a tiger adorned postage stamps in the pre-war Federated Malay States of Pahang, Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. The tiger was also depicted on pre-war currency notes printed during the reign of King George V and circulated in Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo and Sarawak.

The tiger has a strong presence in the culture of the Malays, featuring in several Malay folktales and proverbs. The tiger also finds an important place in the cultures of the Chinese and Indians.

And don’t forget, we refer to our national football team as Harimau Malaya? How can we then sit idly by and let the real tiger go extinct?

Remember too that ultimately everything is connected and we will be affected one way or the other in the long run if we do not take a balanced stance on the environment and protect the ecosystem as much as we can.

The government has been unsuccessful in its objective of increasing the number of Malayan tigers. Businessmen involved in the plantation sector, logging and housing development are always eying the forests and many state governments are more than happy to approve their applications to fell trees for profit or “development”. And poachers are actively working to reduce not just the tiger population but also that of several other wild animals.

Conservation groups and tiger lovers have for many years now been urging the authorities to show more will in protecting the tiger.

I suppose we need normal people to take up the cudgels to protect the tiger, as was done by students of the British International School of Kuala Lumpur who raised RM43,500 in June last year.

The students, led by Year 7 student Sasha Philip, produced merchandise such as t-shirts and bags with the tiger on it for sale. The money raised was distributed to the forestry department, the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers and WWF-Malaysia.

As I said, past tiger conservation plans of successive governments have all failed. Last year, the government initiated a new 10-year tiger conservation plan, which I wrote about in yesterday’s column.

If we can identify the problem, we can work out the solution. The problem, it has been established, is not the tiger. It is the human encroaching into the tiger’s natural habitat. So, we need to start there.

Saying “we are committed” is not enough. Setting up a National Tiger Conservation Task Force is not enough. Having a 10-year tiger conservation plan is not enough.

The authorities need to show strong will, provide adequate funds and inspire their officers – working in tandem with conservationists – to make the new plan a success so that our descendants can proudly say the Malayan tiger is their national symbol.

Let us not forget that the Javan tiger became extinct in the 1970s, the Caspian tiger in the 1950s, and the Bali tiger in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Let us not forget that by the time Indonesian authorities created the Bali Barat National Park in 1941, it was too late to protect the Bali tiger which became extinct due to loss of habitat, poaching and a decrease in prey in its ecosystem.

Let us not allow the Malayan tiger to meet the same fate. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.