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When our tigers roar no more – S.M. Mohd Idris

February 23, 2016

Yet more devastating news for our Malaysian tigers when one was caught in snare meant for trapping wild boars and an incident of a roadkill.  

How many tigers can we afford to lose? Both these incidents should raise alarm bells for all Malaysians particularly government representatives and policy makers to commit towards urgent conservation action.

Snares though strictly prohibited under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 is still rampantly used by the Orang Asli for trapping of wild animals. In 2010 a tiger, believed to be trapped by mistake was also caught in a snare set up by orang asli.  In addition poachers too add on to the woes of the animals by placing snares along animal tracks in the forests. 

A study conducted by NGOs in  2010 and 2013 in protected areas and forest reserves revealed more than 2,241 poachers traps and 1, 728 illegal camps. Given the precariously low tiger numbers, each animal must be fully monitored and protected.

Homemade wire snares inflict terrible injuries and cause agonising drawn out deaths as animals try to free themselves from their torment, waiting many hours in a distressed and fearful state.  By the time the snare is visited the animal is either in extreme pain or has died from its self-induced injuries. A major disadvantage of the snare is that it catches a high proportion of animals other than the target species.

For too long snare have been senselessly and in most cases, inhumanely, destroying animals that are a necessary part of our ecosystem. This shows that legislation prohibiting the use of snares has not been effectively put into practice.  So long as there is no complete ban on snares, Malaysian wildlife will not be completely protected.

The issuing of hunting licences and the increasing number of firearms issued to farmers ostensibly for protecting crops, and voluntary militias will also give rise to a natural increased tendency for hunting abuses which is difficult to control as there is no monitoring. The tiger’s usual prey the sambar deer and wild boars could have been overhunted. A shrinking prey base may pose an even greater threat to tigers since tigers cannot feed themselves and their cubs, their numbers will surely plunge. The loss of prey was what decimated the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers.

Tigers are at great risks from logging roads, encroachment, and land conversions and habitat destruction, declining growth rate, demand for tiger parts and lack of protection taking their toll on the number of tigers in the wild.  As long as land clearing and logging continues, the borders between man and tigers will become closer. Previous hunting grounds for tigers have become rubber estates and palm oil plantations.  Do we blame them from roaming within their former home?

Development has made accessibility difficult for not only tigers but all other animals as their highways for migration are cut off foraging closer to jungle edge for food. Since tigers are wide ranging animals they need a lot of forest in which to roam, mate and search for food. As far back as 2006, Sahabat Alam Malaysia has repeatedly called the authorities’ attention to a serious problem of roadkill but to no avail. 

The dead pregnant tigress with her unborn cubs at the East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2) is a great loss of not one but two or three cubs, when the tiger population is dwindling in the country due to shrinking home range.

Highway planners, land managers, biologists and engineers are oblivious to all these as they continue to lay asphalt corridors across forested habitats cutting across animal migrating paths. Placing animal crossing signage along roadways may not work as few people pay attention to animal crossing signs.

While crossing structures are slowly being incorporated into road plans yet virtually nothing is known on their true effectiveness between overpasses and underpasses.

With dwindling and damaged habitat, animals are losing ground in humanity's broader war against wildlife. Even if we do nothing, the rate of roadkill will decline from lack of wildlife, not from lack of cars or roads. – February 23, 2016.

* S.M. Mohd Idris is president of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.