Hilary Chiew, The Star 17 Jan 10;
PETALING JAYA: Tiger lovers worldwide are seizing on the interest generated by the Chinese lunar calendar’s Year of the Tiger to stress the urgency of saving the big cats from extinction.
The dire situation has reached a crisis point – there may no longer be any real tigers to greet the next Year of the Tiger in 2022 if nothing is done.
There are only about 3,200 tigers in the wild, down from 20,000 in the 1980s and some 100,000 a century ago.
Towards the end of this month, environment ministers from 13 tiger range states will meet in Thailand.
“This meeting is part of a global political process to determine high-level commitment and action to secure the future of the tiger.
“The process will culminate in a heads of state Tiger Summit in Vladivostok in Russia in September to be hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and co-chaired by the World Bank’s president Robert Zoellick,” said the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) Greater Mekong Programme in a press invitation e-mailed to the media on Friday.
Tiger conservation programmes across Asia and Russia’s Far East are fighting a losing battle as development encroaches into tiger habitats, and also as the insatiable appetite for tiger body parts and pelts grows.
According to the WWF, tigers are found in 13 countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. Nowhere are they safe.
Natural Resources and Environ-ment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah confirmed that there would be a Malaysian delegation to the meeting, led by Deputy Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.
In the last century, three sub-species – the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers – became extinct, and of the six remaining sub-species, the Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) is endemic to Malaysia.
Locally known as harimau, Pak Belang or Datuk Harimau, they num-ber at least 490.
The relevant agencies in Malaysia are currently studying the National Tiger Action Plan, a strategic conservation blueprint for the species developed by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks and the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers.
Tiger year spells new hope for the big cat
New Straits Times 22 Jan 10;
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."
