Let's save the tiger from the trigger: Fanny Lai

Education and awareness vital in preventing extinction of wild cats
Fanny Lai, Straits Times 13 Feb 10;

I FIRST saw tigers in the early 1960s, when I was only five.

There were at least six of them in a circus in Kallang. The kings of the Asian forest were confined in small over-crowded cages and had been trained to jump through rings of fire.

I had no idea about animal welfare and ethics at the time, but I was so awed by the size and majesty of the cats that I had my mum embroider a tiger on my homemade canvas school bag.

My next encounter with tigers was looking at the statues in Tiger Balm Gardens (now renamed Haw Par Villa) in the '10 courts of hell' a few years later. It was a traumatic experience and I firmly believed that if I disobeyed my parents, the tigers would slowly eat my beating heart.

In Singapore, tigers are very much a part of our heritage and culture.

The tiger is the largest of all cats and found only in Asia. It is the most charismatic, mysterious and respected symbol in the region, and appears in everything from paintings to products such as Tiger beer. Most of us see such an image several times every day; even our coins and dollar notes have a lion and a tiger in the country's coat of arms.

One hundred years ago, there were more than 100,000 tigers in the world. Today, this figure has dwindled to fewer than 3,500.

Within a century, we not only lost 97 per cent of the world's tigers but also killed off three of the nine tiger sub-species - the Bali tiger, Javan tiger and Caspian tiger. The South China tiger may also be extinct in the wild; it has not been seen for almost three decades.

How could such a charismatic animal be driven into such a critically endangered situation?

In Singapore 180 years ago, our impenetrable virgin jungle was infested with tigers. Strong swimmers, they crossed the Strait of Johor looking for prey such as wild pigs, deer, molluscs, frogs and crabs in the mangroves.

When humans began taking over their natural habitat for the cultivation of gambier and pepper plantations, the tigers started to change their diet. In the middle of the 19th century, one person was killed every day by a tiger. This conflict persisted until 80 years ago, when we killed our last tiger in Choa Chu Kang.

This extermination has been repeated in all the tiger range countries throughout Asia - from China to India.

Besides habitat destruction, poaching is the other reason for its dire state. The tiger is, unfortunately, the most sought- after symbol of power and energy in Asia.

Many people want to wear, eat or own a piece of it. In fact, a tiger has more value dead than alive, as each animal can fetch up to $15,000 on the black market.

Every part of the tiger, from whisker to penis, can be used: as an ingredient for traditional Chinese medicine, a dish in a restaurant, a fashion statement or a protective amulet.

The Chinese Year of the Tiger begins tomorrow.

The animal zodiac cycle is repeated every 12 years and every 60 years, the element of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal recurs. If tiger conservation efforts are not intensified today, I am afraid that in the next Metal Tiger Year, in 2070, our children will have to take our grandchildren to the museum to tell them the story of tigers once living in the days of our forefathers.

Around the world, there are an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 tigers bred illegally in captivity, which are then slaughtered and sold each year. This further threatens the wild population as demand for tiger parts persists and is, in fact, ever-increasing.

Many more are killed in the wild: It is much easier and cheaper for a poacher to kill a wild tiger and sell its parts, than look after one in a farm from cub stage all the way to adulthood.

As top predators, tigers keep the population of wild hoofed mammals in check, thereby maintaining the balance between herbivores and the vegetation upon which they feed.

A whole myriad of other life forms is essential to support a healthy tiger population, and maintain biodiversity in Asian rainforests.

It would be an unimaginable loss for Asia if our tigers were wiped out.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore has been actively involved in regional tiger conservation projects and in creating awareness of the plight of the wild tiger.

In 2005, in partnership with WWF (Malaysia), we worked with a local community in Kelantan that lives in and around tiger landscapes - educating the people on appropriate technologies to minimise human-tiger conflict, by building tiger- proof cattle pens, for example. At the same time, we worked with the local authorities to ensure strict protection of wild tigers and their core breeding areas.

We hope that tiger range countries will continue to intensify their efforts to protect tiger habitats, conserve and manage buffer zones and corridors that connect core tiger breeding areas, and pass laws to implement them.

As we usher in this auspicious New Year, we should stop the use of tiger parts and report those who sell them.

Do not patronise any park that offers tiger entertainment in a circus-style environment. Singapore has banned circus performances since 2002 because of animal welfare and ethical concerns. However, many parks around the world still offer such entertainment.

Tigers can reproduce quickly: Each female is able to raise four cubs, under favourable conditions, every two years or so. Given the chance, the wild tiger populations could recover quickly.

But we need to work together to make this happen.

There can be no higher conservation goal than to save the greatest of all cats.

The writer is Group CEO of Wildlife Reserves Singapore.